Manchester Utd v Arsenal – Brett Curtis’s Bet builder tips on Old Trafford Clash
Manchester United host Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday in a 4:30pm kick-off at Old Trafford.
The Red Devils have returned from the international break in excellent form, winning their three away games at Newcastle, Paris Saint-Germain and Leipzig, while drawing 0-0 at home to Chelsea last weekend.
Arsenal, meanwhile, are stuttering having lost three of their last four league matches. They were sucker-punched once again by Jamie Vardy in a 1-0 home defeat to Leicester last weekend.
United are evens to win the encounter, with the draw and Arsenal win both 13/5.
Anthony Martial serves the last of his three match ban after being sent off in United’s last defeat to Tottenham prior to the international break, with Alex Telles out for a couple of weeks after testing positive for coronavirus.
Marcus Rashford scored a superb hat-trick after coming on as a substitute against Leipzig after Mason Greenwood had opened the scoring in the first-half. Rashford and Bruno Fernandes, who should remain on penalty-taking duties despite missing a couple lately, are both 9/5 (Sky Bet) to score anytime, with Greenwood 23/10 (Betfair).
David Luiz is unlikely to feature for the visitors having been substituted against Leicester, so Mikel Arteta could deploy a back four as he looks to provide his side with more attacking impetus.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has not scored since the opening day at Fulham, and is 29/20 (Unibet) to break his duck. Alexandre Lacazette is one ahead of his strike partner on three goals and is 2/1 (various) to extend his tally.
Mike Dean officiates this match and in the past that has nearly always guaranteed cards, with the 52-year-old averaging 3.74 yellow cards per game throughout his distinguished Premier League career.
However, in the nine matches he has officiated since Premier League football returned behind closed doors in June, he has only shown 22 yellows and one red (an average of 2.55 cards per game), so with the card line set high by the bookmakers here due to the historical rivalry between the sides I’m not too keen to get involved either way.
One thing which hasn’t changed with Dean, though, is his tendency to award penalties. Averaging 0.34 penalties per game throughout his PL career, he has shown six penalties in the nine games he has officiated behind closed doors, so his career average has since doubled (albeit over a small sample size).
BoyleSports offer 17/10 for there to be a penalty awarded, with Man Utd scoring a penalty 4/1 (SkyBet and bet365) looking the pick of the match for me.
The Red Devils were awarded 22 last season, which was more than any side in Europe.
In terms of shorter priced pick, I like Fernandes to have a shot on target from outside the area at 5/6 (Betfair).
He has tested the opposition goalkeeper in every league match this season and is never afraid to shoot from range in open play, often taking free-kicks too.
