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Man Utd v Man City: preview of a crucial Premiership fixture

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The biggest game of the season takes place at Old Trafford on Sunday as Man Utd seek to end Man City’s unbeaten run and close the gap on the league leaders. It is one of the most important Manchester derbies in history and if City take all three points the title race could well be over. However, a Utd win would end City’s air of invincibility, blow the title race wide open and make the season more interesting for the neutrals.

 

What are the best odds on a Man Utd win?

Man Utd are the underdogs in a home clash against their fierce local rivals and that will not sit well at all with their fans. The noisy neighbours have reached a deafening cacophony this season and lead the league table by eight points. Utd are all the way out at 12/5 with bookmakers like Bet Victor and Betfred, an enormous price on Jose Mourinho’s men. Unibet has the best odds at 5/2 and that is sure to tempt plenty of punters. The Red Devils will be without the suspended Paul Pogba, and they have injury problems at the back, but they will take great heart from their 3-1 smash and grab win at The Emirates last weekend. Arsenal had three-quarters of the possession and laid siege to David De Gea’s goal, but the Spaniard stood strong and repelled the Gunners time after time. With him in that sort of inspired form, Utd are in with a great chance in this game and will look to hit City on the break in similarly devastating fashion.

 

What are the best odds on a draw?

The draw is 13/5 with Betway, Betfred and various others and that looks interesting. The last meeting between these two finished 0-0 as Utd held out for a result at The Etihad. However, Mourinho applied rather negative tactics that day and he cannot afford to do so again on Sunday. Utd are the home team and will be expected to show some ambition, while they also desperately need to close the gap on City if they are to give themselves a chance in the title race, so they will be forced to take some risks and a draw might be unlikely.

 

What are the best odds on a Man City win?

Despite being the away team, City are the favourites and that is a reflection of their outrageous form at present. They have won 14 games in a row and remain unbeaten this season as we head into the festive season. They have been attacking with pace, grace and dynamism and Kevin De Bruyne in particular stands out as the player of the season thus far. However, City have not been blowing teams away in quite such imperious fashion of late. In October they were regularly winning by four or five goals, but their last three matches have seen them grind out 2-1 victories courtesy of last gasp winners. They are still playing well, but they do not look quite as convincing as they did a month ago. Still, City are 6/5 with Bet Victor, Stan James, 10Bet, Unibet and Sun Bets and that is also likely to attract a lot of attention as they have developed such a habit of winning games this season.

 

Top Tip

Both teams to score and the over 2.5 goals looks a good bet in this game at 23/20 with Coral and Paddy Power, but be sure to check the other green listed bookmakers for a more attractive line. City have not kept a clean sheet in their last three games and nor have Man Utd, and if the home team throw caution to the wind then someone could well make it 2-1 before the 90 minutes are up.