The confusion & chaos goes on at Portsmouth with yet another managerial change & that only serves to makes this fascinating clash of bottom club Portsmouth & reigning Champions Manchester United a really interesting match. Paul Hart has paid the price for Portsmouth`s incredibly poor start to the season & Avram Grant is now tasked with somehow plotting the Premier League survival of Portsmouth & that does indeed look a tremendously daunting task. Portsmouth started the season with 7 consecutive defeats but throughout that run, they always displayed real team spirit & a commitment to give everything which did result in a turn around in form for a few matches. Their up turn in form saw Portsmouth achieve 3 wins & 1 draw from 5 games including two consecutive 4-0 victories but they have fallen back again since then losing their last 2 away at Blackburn & Stoke City. Portsmouth clearly have issues in all areas of the team but their major weakness & key reason behind not achieving more points by now has been their failure to score enough goals. Portsmouth have only scored 10 goals in 13 league matches so far & that has to be something that Avram Grant concentrates on but that is a massive task as Portsmouth don`t have a natural goalscorer within their squad.
Manchester United
Manchester United come into this match sitting 2nd in the Premier League trailing Chelsea by 5 points & knowing that they really do have to start building a string of wins to try & put Chelsea under pressure so this is a massively important game for Alex Ferguson & his players. The importance of this match was reflected by Alex Ferguson`s decision to change virtually the whole team in their Champions League clash & most of the 1st team were given a rest in preparation for this match. Manchester United played well to beat Everton 3-0 last weekend & Alex Ferguson will be looking to build on that in this match & we expect Manchester United to be very positive from the start.
Betting verdict
Historically Portsmouth have done quite well in this fixture & we do expect a response from the Portsmouth squad with Avram Grant now in charge but 5 defeats in 6 at home does not bode well for Portsmouth & we fully expect Manchester United to have way too much attacking quality & win this comfortably.
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Prediction:
Tip: 2 AH (-1.25)
Odd: 2.00
Bookie: Bet365
Stake: 8 /10
Tipster: Kather
