Manchester United v Derby FA Cup Predictions & Betting Odds – 5th January 2018

United to hold their ground against tough Championship opposition

Manchester United
Manchester United © GEPA pictures

Manchester United v Derby Betting Preview – FA Cup 5th January 8.00pm

This should be a pretty good contest on Friday night in the FA Cup third round. It is Premier League versus Championship in the fixture, but the Red Devils will have their hands full against the Rams who are going strong in the push for an automatic promotion place this season. The Red Devils may have that shock EFL Cup exit against Bristol City on their minds too. Can the Rams turn up at Old Trafford and claim a major scalp for themselves?

Manchester United v Derby FA Cup Betting Tips

Manchester United may well be one of the favourites to get their hands on the FA Cup, however, they do open with a tricky fixture here. Manchester United haven’t been in great form lately as they have collected one win in their last five played (D3 L1) across all competitions. They have managed just the one victory in their last four at Old Trafford as well (D2 L1) which is quite a dip in form for them. Overall though they have a really strong home record this season of W12 D2 L1 and are justifiable favourites in this FA Cup tie. They failed to score for the first time at Old Trafford this season as they played out a 0-0 draw with Southampton in the Premier League in their last home fixture. In the William Hill correct score market a Manchester United 2-0 option is the shortest price in the market at 9/2 with the 1-0 for them at 11/2. They do have ten clean sheets in their fifteen games at Old Trafford (two in their last five). It could be worth considering them to win to nil.

The last time that Manchester United and Derby were paired up was in the FA Cup just a couple of years ago in January 2016. That was a clash at Pride Park which Manchester United won comfortably 3-1. That was the ninth FA Cup tie between the two of them and from those previous nine games, Manchester United are well up in the head to head with a W7 D1 L2 record. Manchester United have won each of their last three games against Derby across all competitions now and they are on a three-match winning streak at home against them too. Over 2.5 goals at William Hill is trading at 8/11 and in front of goal, Jesse Lingard has been having a really good time of things and is a 6/4 option while it is Marcus Rashford, who is just a little bit out of favour at the moment but may get his chance, is the 5/6 anytime goalscorer favorite.

The Rams are really in some strong form and if they turn up with a strong starting eleven, they can compete. They are unbeaten in their last seven games with wins in five of those and they have taken five clean sheets in that sequence as well and they are carrying some strong away form as well. The Rams are on a stretch of nine away games unbeaten and they collected three clean sheets in their last four away games as well, shipping just the one goal in total in that run of road games. Derby haven’t conceded more than one goal in any of their last nine away games now in all competitions. Another positive for the Championship side is that they have scored at least two goals in five of their last seven away games. If you fancy them getting on the scoresheet, both teams to score at William Hill is a 5/4 poke. Top scorer for them this season is Matej Vydra who is a 7/2 anytime goalscorer option for the fixture. They do have promotion on their mind, but they can battle in this one.

Manchester United v Derby FA Cup Betting Odds

Man Utd 2/7, Draw 5/1, Derby 11/1

Manchester United v Derby FA Cup Predictions

Manchester United will be value to get through this and not bad value to win it to nil either. They have the match winners and home advantage which can just pull them through. Derby are going well but they are likely going to be far more focused on securing automatic promotion to the Premier League than a deep cup run.