Wayne Rooney needs one goal to surpass Sir Bobby Charlton\’s tally of 249 and become the top scorer in Manchester United\’s history. It would be fitting, if you are of a particular hue, if Rooney manages it against Liverpool at Old Trafford on Sunday. Maybe even the neutral will enjoy the yarn.
But for the punter is it worth betting on? Thanks to the Premier League publicity machine you would have to have been living under a rock not to know that the Croxteth kid has the opportunity to twist the knife against United’s bitter rivals.
And like a jockey riding in his last race, there is a temptation to be on the storyline being fulfilled. The emotional punt. It’s a folly, of course. We should only bet if we believe we have an edge. Still, the clamour for Rooney bets will be far and wide this weekend so it is worth analysing some of the markets.
For a kick-off, Rooney is 3.8 with NetBet, 32Red and 888Sport to score at any time and thus claim the record. He is fourth ‘favourite’. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is the shortest at 2.3 with William Hill but there are doubts about his fitness after his missed the League Cup semi-final against Hull City.
Rooney only has four games this season. So the initial reaction is this: ‘what a terrible price’. And only one has come in the Premier League. His minutes per goal in the league is currently at 813.
The striker is actually more likely to be shown a card. At 3.25 with Stan James and Skybet it’s a superior wager in terms of sense. And there also something satisfying about swimming against the tide.
Still, we may not need Rooney to score if we want to get with him. A more cynical approach is to play the Premier League hype machine at its own game. For example, Rooney is 12 with Betfred to be named man of the match.
Now hear us out. Rooney is yet to be named man of the match in any games this season. But because of the noise surrounding him in this game even an average performance – possibly goalless – in a home victory might be enough to sway the adjudicator. Hell, there are worse 12 shots. And Paddy Power are alive to the sop, making him 7.
If that doesn’t float your boat you can play safe and back Zlatan for a goal at any time. That’s our wager. We want cold, hard facts for such a red-hot, testy atmosphere. He has scored 42 per cent of United’s goals this season. For the record he been named MoM four times so the 6.5 (Betfred) that he makes it No 5 might appeal. Ander Herrera, with 3, is hugely underrated at 17 in some of our green listed bookmakers.
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