Manchester Derby 27th April 2017 odds & prediction

Rivals to share the points at the Etihad?

Martial (Manchester United)
Martial (Manchester United) © GEPA pictures

A game of huge importance in the context of a top four finish for both of these this season and this is one Manchester derby that neither are going to want to lose. Things are tight in the race for a top-four finish in the Premier League and for this rare Thursday night Premier League game, Man City are starting 4th and just the one point and one place above their city rivals. So if the Citizens can make the most of the home advantage then they will give themselves a pretty nice cushion at this stage of the game.

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Manchester City v Manchester United 2017 Infographic

Manchester City v Manchester United Betting Odds

Man City 3/4, Draw 27/10, Man Utd 7/2

Manchester City collected a 2-1 win at Old Trafford earlier in the season but that is just the one win in their last five against their big rivals now. So they aren’t running in great head to head form against the Red Devils and United won this corresponding fixture last season 1-0. Four of the last six games between these two in all competitions have seen two goals or less and under 2.5 goals for this meeting at William Hill is a price of even money. It’s not too often you see a Thursday fixture in the top flight, and actually, the last time these two sides met on a Thursday in the Premier League was in November 1994, with Manchester United winning 5-0 thanks to an Andrei Kanchelskis hat-trick.

We aren’t likely to see a scoreline of that magnitude for this meeting because there is so much at stake for these two that it will probably be a pretty tight affair. City are unbeaten in their last five on home soil, and they have only lost one of their 15 home league games this season, but only neighbours Man Utd (9) have drawn more home games than them in the top flight this season (6). So the draw in the match outright does look to have some big appeal at 27/10 with William Hill in this game. The margins are likely going to be pretty tight in this one.

Manchester City saw key players go off in their epic duel with Arsenal in the FA Cup semi-final on the weekend, which they ended up losing in extra time. But then Manchester United suffered two big blows of Marcos Rojo and in particular Zlatan Ibrahimovic, picking up season-ending injuries. The loss of Zlatan could be huge in the context of Manchester United edging their way into the top four because he has been carrying goalscoring responsibilities so strongly on his shoulders. So United will need Marcus Rashford (a 12/5 anytime goalscorer option) to continue his form.

But on the other side, Manchester City have Sergio Aguero who has found the back of the net in five successive Premier League appearances now and he could equal his best such-run in the competition with a goal in this match (six appearances in a row between April-May 2016). He has scoring form too against United, with eight goals in 10 competitive appearances against the Red Devils. The Citizens are going to need a big game from him, if he is fit enough to go, and maybe it will be something special from him which wins the day. Aguero is 5/6 William Hill anytime goalscorer outright favourite for this game.

A share of the points would keep both going along well enough in the race for a top-four finish this season. United are on a big 23 match unbeaten streak of form in the Premier League now and aren’t going to be easy to beat at all, while Manchester City have lost just one of their last eleven games played in the top flight and they have suffered just the one home defeat all season. In the battle of Pep Guardiola v Jose Mourinho, Guardiola has lost just four of his 18 previous head to heads with Mourinho (W8 D6) but lost the last encounter with the Special One in the EFL Cup this season at Old Trafford. But Mourinho has failed to win any of his last four Premier League games against City (D2 L2).

Manchester Derby Prediction

Draw: It is so hard to pick a winner out of this one and the draw has some big appeal in the match outright. Looking beyond that then, a 1-1 correct score at William hill for 13/2 is probably going to have some big appeal for punters.