Owen Coyle rested some players in the Carling Cup so they`d be ready for this match, the visit of Manchester United, a fixture to highlight in any clubs calendar. Well, his team got knocked out of the cup by his old side, Burnley, and I am of the opinion his current side isn`t going to climb up any further from 12th when the clock hits 2pm. That will have to wait for another day. They`re going to have their hands full here with Man U, who are not just out for the 3 points, but a large goal difference too, seeing as Chelsea seems to want to get the bookmakers to pay out before Christmas. With terrible draws at Fulham and Everton, they will come at Bolton hard from the get go. Its a good thing Bolton will have their keeper, Jussi Jaaskelainen, back to help, although I`m afraid it won`t be enough. They`re going to surrender goals here.
Keep walking
United have alternated wins with disappointing draws all season so far and they now lie 3rd, behind Arsenal and runaway leaders Chelsea. It`s their inability to shut teams down that has cost them, with the team letting Everton and Fulham back into games that should have been buried long before. As mentioned, they let Scunthorpe score twice against them, and I would be more concerned about that, than the fact they put 5 past them. Berbatov seems to have located his scoring boots, finally, and singlehandedly dragged United across the finishing line, netting a hattrick in a 3-2 win over Liverpool. Michael Owen also got in on the action in midweek against Scunthorpe. With the defence having that question mark over them, they will need to just keep scoring till the final whistle blows, and that is what I think they will do. They`ll also want this truly dead and buried early, so I are expecting Alex Ferguson to pick his strongest possible team for this one because United cannot afford to drop anymore points so early in the season.
A big difference
Bolton and Manchester United have played each other 22 times in the Premier League and United have 15 wins compared to Bolton’s 3 and of the last 10 clashes, Manchester United have won 9 of them. I considered both teams to score, but I think with a United win priced quite nicely at 1.55 there is no reason to mess about here. Take Manchester United to win more than 1 goals.
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Prediction:
Tip: 2 AH (-1.5)
Odd: 2.51
Bookie: Bet365
Stake: 7 /10
Tipster: Kather
