Manchester United vs Manchester City Betting Odds, Preview & Tips – 23.10.11

Manchester United v Manchester City Betting Tip & Odds: There is a lot of thinking that this has a draw written all over it. City will no doubt try and be a bit more disciplined and controlled at Old Trafford, not wanting to drop three points. Because of the stats of both teams being pretty tight in the first half of their matches, it could well be worth looking at a Half Time/Full Time bet, kicking off with a draw. A Draw/Manchester United bet fetches 4/1 at Bet365, while a Draw/Draw offers a nice 5/1 at Victor Chandler. Good coverage on both options for your Man Utd v Man City betting.

Manchester United to win: 23/20 at Victor Chandler
Draw: 5/2 at SkyBet
Manchester City to win: 11/4 at Totesport

EPL Match Preview: We have had a feast of top matches in the first weeks of the new Premier League season, and now this weekend we have the biggest of all. City arguably have the more talent in their individual collective than United, but no-one does a better job of being a team than the Red Devils. So this is the second Manchester Derby of the season (with United winning 3-2 in the Community Shield), with a huge amount of importance on it. City top the Premier League by two points from their rivals, neither side having lost a match this season. For all the hype around Manchester City being title contenders, you have to weigh up the matches which have been played so far. Manchester United have played all of the other members of the Big Four plus Tottenham and have come through unscathed, while City have only come into contact with Spurs. This is the first match against one of the Big Four for City this season, so dos that give us a bit of a false reading in the league table? Nevertheless, City have the chance to pull a massive five points clear of United at the top of the table if they secure a win, while for once, it is Sir Alex Ferguson chasing his blue neighbours, and they need the points to stay in touch. For City boss Roberto Mancini, this is a massive chance to show, unlike last season where they were extremely negative at Old Trafford, that City really are a force to be reckoned with.

Manchester United Form: After such a strong, blustering start, there have been a couple of slips from the Red Devils in their last few Premier League matches. Manchester United haven’t quite looked as fluent and assured as they did when they were romping past Arsenal and Chelsea, a 1-1 away draw at Stoke putting the breaks on their winning streak. It was then a struggle against Norwich at Old Trafford, which the Red Devils left late to come out 2-0 on top, and then they were lucky to get away with a point at Anfield after a Steven Gerrard goal had put the other Reds in front. With United needing two penalty kicks to beat Otelul Galati in the Champions League in the week, is the momentum of the Red Devils beginning to slow down? First of all we need to look at United’s home form, where they have a 100% record from their four matches at the Theatre of Dreams this season. In those four matches they have hit 16 goals and conceded just three. Sure, the eight goals against Arsenal makes this figure look exaggerated, but they still scored them, which means that 75% of their home matches have ended at Over 2.5 goals this season. The defence, which has been missing Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic (who was sent off in the Champions League on Tuesday) for one reason or the other, but they have only kept a clean sheet in 50% of their matches at Old Trafford. Question marks have been asked of new keeper David De Gea, so Manchester City will certainly want to put him under pressure. Once again, the final fifteen minutes of matches have often been the most telling for Manchester United. That is the bracket in which they have scored the highest percentage of their goals this season, and they have yet to concede a goal anywhere in the last fifteen minutes of a league match this season. So that is usually when they are at their most dangerous. The power which United have in goal scoring ability is still prolific, and they have opened the scoring in 87% of their matches this season. Interestingly, they have not conceded a goal in the opening half hour of any match so far this season, so it stacks up that they would be a good bet to score first. Wayne Rooney, who was back in the side in the Champions League in the week, is top scorer with nine goals on the season, but there has been superb support from Hernandez, Welbeck, Nani and Young so United do have goals in them. Manchester United were very negative against Liverpool, and indeed Sir Alex Ferguson picked a side which reflected that. But back at Old Trafford, they will surely be more aggressive.

Manchester City Form: The Blues have hit the top of the league, capitalizing on Manchester United’s misfiring at Anfield last weekend. Roberto Mancini’s men hold a two point advantage now over rivals United, and just as tellingly, City have scored more goals than their neighbours. While City have been strong at Eastlands, their only blip on the season came in an away draw against Fulham, a match in which they blew a two goal lead. They clearly learned their lessons from that though, as they have subsequently rattled off three wins, conceding just one goal in that time. This being a massive away game for Manchester City, we need to look at their away form overall. There have been three wins and that draw, so no defeat in four matches away from the Etihad Stadium for them. In those four away matches, they have scored an impressive 14 goals though, averaging 3.50 goals per match away from home which is pretty impressive. They are, on average, conceding 1.25 goals per match away from home, having let in five while keeping just one clean sheet on the road. However, their goal scoring exploits are certainly not to be argued with, and that is what is papering over any small cracks at the back. We can draw some pretty strong comparisons to Manchester United in our look at goal scoring stats. City have opened the scoring in all of their Premier League matches this season, which is impressive. Like United, they have not conceded a goal in the final fifteen minutes of a match, nor in the first half hour. The main difference from their rivals is in the time of the match when they score their goals. City come out strong after the half time break, and the 46-60 minute bracket is when they have scored the highest percentage of their goals, with the second highest bracket being the following 61-75, so City are a strong second half side. New signging Sergio Aguero tops the goal scoring charts for Manchester City, having fired in eight so far this season, while his main support has come from Edin Dzeko who has netted six. Back up support has come from Mario Balotelli, but City also have a lot of other players chipping in with the odd goal. A late winner at home against Villarreal in the Champions League has prompted new hope of them qualifying there, and has sparked a trend of doing the Mancini (crazy fist pumping in the air after a rare show of emotions from the City boss).

Head to Head: There have been 79 matches between the two sides at Old Trafford, with Man Utd winning 38, Man City 15 and 26 draws having been played out. So a big advantage in the record books for Manchester United. They almost have a 50% success rate in this fixture and have scored 131 goals and conceded 92 at home against their City rivals. Last season’s corresponding fixture ended in a 2-1 win for United, that having followed a 0-0 draw at Eastlands. United have already bullied City into submission once this season, a 3-2 at Wembley in the Community Shield. Recent form equates to four wins for United, one for City and one Draw in their last six meetings in all competitions. So as much as the rise of City is grabbing the headlines, Man Utd are still the dominant force.

Online Bookmaker Promotion: Online bookmaker Bet365 are running a great Manchester United v Manchester City betting promotion, which will enable you to get a totally free bet! Place a pre-match bet on the game, and then follow that up with a Live In Play bet on the big Manchester derby match, and if your first Live In Play bet loses, then Bet365 will refund the lost stake up to the value of your biggest pre-match bet placed on the game. So a great offer, which equates to you have a free live in play bet essentially. If you have a pre-match punt on the game, then you will have a risk free chance on Live In Play betting. Great coverage from the highly rated online bookmaker, who also offer a free £200 bet for new customers registering an account.