West Ham come to Old Trafford this evening having had a start to the season which would suggest that Hammers fans could be in for as rocky a season as they had to endure last season.

They have lost both of their opening games, shipping six goals and scoring only one in return and it is extremely difficult to put together a case to suggest that their fortunes are going to improve much today. Their away record has been extremely poor for quite some time now (the last time they won away in the League was on the opening day of last season when they beat Wolves 2-0.

The really good news for United is that the injured players are now starting to come back and with Anderson playing an hour earlier in the week for the reserves, there might even be the possibility of a cameo appearance for him in this game.

Wayne Rooney should be back for this one and will no doubt play alongside Berbatov – after a pretty barren few months for Rooney, I have a feeling he is going to burst back into life soon and today could well be the day.

I’m not going to over-analyse this one. I can only see a United win – the question is: by how many? Unfortunately, the bookies see it exactly the same way and are offering very skinny odds even on the -1.5 AH (1.45!).

I think I am going to go for it with this one though as I do think United could win this one very comfortably today and a three goal winning margin would not be a massive surprise but a two goal winning margin will refund stakes.

The bet is going to be 3 points United -2 AH @ 1.74 with Canbet.

The draw for this season’s Champions league has just been made and this is how it looks for Manchester United.

We have been drawn in Group C alongside Valencia, Rangers and Bursaspor.

There are obviously going to be a couple of tasty encounters with Rangers and Valencia have good pedigree in the tournament. I must admit to knowing very little about Bursaspor other than the fact that they qualified for this tournament by winning the Turkish Super Lig last season but that title win was the first time they had ever finished in the top three of their domestic league.

I think the other English sides fared slightly better with their groups (with the exception of Spurs who always looked like ending in a tough group as they came from Pot 3).

Chelsea, Marseille, Spartak Moscow, MSK Zilina.

Arsenal, Shakhtar Donetsk, Braga, FK Partizan.

Tottenham, Inter Milan, Werder Bremen, FC Twente.

Craven Cottage has always been a happy hunting ground for United until recently. Our last two visits have seen us lose 2-0 in 2008/09 and then 3-0 last season although it has to be said that that 3-0 defeat was in December during the horrendous spell when we barely had a defender to field.

Still, Fulham have been a very decent outfit under Roy Hodgson in recent years but Hodgson has, of course, now left for Liverpool and has been replaced by Mark Hughes who is no doubt still finding his feet in his new job.

It’s going to be interesting to see who Fergie plays for this one. Rooney apparently has a stomach bug and hasn’t travelled and so will we see Fergie revert to some kind of 4-5-1 or a 4-4-2 with Berby and Chicharito/Owen upfront?

Fulham’s biggest miss is likely to be keeper Schwarzer.

It’s still a bit too early in the season to know exactly what to make of this one but I do think our recent Craven Cottage jinx will come to an end today and we’ll be leaving with the three points this time.

The bookies think it will be a low-scoring game and it is difficult to argue with that although a 2-1 win for United would not appear to be an unthinkable scoreline. Personally, I think we have a 2-0 in us here but I think a safish bet might be the -1 Asian Handicap.

The bet is 4 points Manchester United -1 AH @ 2.05 with Bet365.

It’s a beautiful day here in Manchester and made all the better because the wait is finally over – Manchester United set out on their campaign to win back the Premier League title right here this evening.

Newcastle, of course, returned to the Premier League after a one season stint in the Championship during which they won by a considerable margin. Whether he can maintain the momentum in the Premier League remains to be seen but I’m sure they’ll come to Old Trafford tonight feeling that they need to show their fans that the horror show of a couple of seasons ago won’t be repeated.

Picking the Manchester United team this season is going to be even more fun than usual as it looks very much like there are pretty much two different teams with completely different formations that Fergie can choose from.

Hernandez has set the place on fire with his goalscoring for every team he has lined up with this summ (three, in total) whilst Rooney is on a “four month goal drought” (a lttle harsh to put it that way, I know, but that is how long it has been since he last found the back of the net) and it is going to be interesting to see what Fergie does about those two here tonight. The Rooney/Hernandez partnership hasn’t been tried yet and that is either because Fergie just hasn’t got around to it yet or he just doesn’t think those two can play together. I suspect there’s something to the latter but that won’t stop United fans from wanting to see it!

Given that Chelsea got their own League campaign off to an absolute flyer with a 6-0 thrashing of West Brom on Saturday (showing that, for all their pre-season woes, it is looking very much like business as usual for the Blues) then it is imperative that we get the three points here tonight.

I don’t expect to see anything like 6-0, of course, but I don’t think two or three goals are beyond us.

The bookies appear to think that this will be a convincing win for Manchester United with 2-0 being the most likely score. I am inclined to go with that which does mean that there’s a bit of value to be had in the over/under market because the bookies also seem pretty certain that it will be a fairly high-scoring affair.

I suspect that a goal from Newcastle will scupper this bet but I am still going to go for the Under here albeit with smallish stakes.

The bet is going to be 2 points UNDER 2.5 goals @ 2.29 with Canbet.

Review to follow…

As always, the Community Shield will be billed as a “friendly” match but there’s not likely to be very much friendship shown on the pitch this afternoon. These two sides will almost certainly be contesting the title again this season and neither will want the other to get one over on them at any stage of the season – starting now.

Just how seriously the two managers will be taking this one is likely to be shown in their starting line-ups and I expect nothing less than full strength from both to start with although predicting what this is in the case of Manchester United is as tricky as ever.

United took part in an open training session at Old Trafford and just about everyone apart from the long-term injured took part including Evra and Carrick (who suffered an ankle injury against the Irish XI during the week and was expected to be out for a fortnight as a result).

Chelsea have been uncharacteristically quiet in the transfer market this summer and so there are unlikely to be many surprises about who turns out for them so expect the usual suspects although it might see a return to action for Essien who, given his injury problems last season, could be like a new signing for them.

As for the match itself, I expect the usual feisty encounter but I do actually think there’ll be goals in this one today. Chelsea were scoring for fun towards the end of last season and we have plenty of attacking options and plenty of goalscorers. It is quite ironic that the player who hasn’t been banging them in for club or country for quite a while is actually Wayne Rooney! This is the type of match that should bring out the best in him though.

As usual, not the kind of match to get too heavily involved with from a betting point of view but I think a small bet on the OVER market might be worthwhile.

The bet is going to be 2 points OVER 2.5 goals @ 2.29 with Canbet.

Review to follow…

Despite a few odd positional decisions by Sir Alex (Evans playing at left-back, for example) the United team that took the field for this one looked much more like United than most of the line-ups used on the USA Tour.

Vidic was back in defence, Valencia was on the right, Carrick was in the centre of midfield and Rooney and Owen were paired up front. All great to see.

Valencia, in particular, was very impressive and showed just what we have been missing in some of the other pre-season games with his constant running at the Irish defence and superb crosses into the box.

As for the match itself, it is difficult to know where to start. The first goal came from a mixture of indecisive defending and horrendous bad luck as Park blocked an attempted clearance and saw the ball rebound straight into the net. As someone once said, “They all count”.

The second goal came from a brilliant piece of play from Michael Owen. At first, it looked like it had been an own goal but replays showed that Owen had deftly lobbed the ball over the keeper despite being under intense pressure from a couple of defenders. It was the kind of strike that shows that Michael Owen still has the striker’s instinct flowing through his veins as strongly as ever.

And that is how the first half ended. 2-0 to United. Rooney had huffed and puffed without much success and probably deserved a bit more in the way of free kicks than the referee gave him. Despite some decent passing and possession football from the Irish players at times, they weren’t really able to make very much of it and Vidic, in particular, probably can’t remember an easier 45 minutes in a United shirt.

As the second half was about to commence, it was announced that Owen and Rooney were being replaced by Berbatov and Hernandez. Hernandez can do no wrong at the moment and every United fan is trying to keep their feet on the ground about him and not hype him up too much for fear of putting too much pressure on the lad’s shoulders.

The problem is, Chicharito just won’t play along and within seconds of coming on, he had put the ball in the net to give United a 3-0 lead.

At this stage, it was all looking a bit ominous for the Irish side and more goals looked inevitable.

It took little under fifteen minutes for the next as Valencia went on a bit of a run, using his right foot at every touch, before bringing it onto his left and firing into the bottom corner. Yes. Valencia scored a goal with his left foot!

A few minutes later, Park scored his second and United’s fifth with a lovely curling effort into the far corner and then Evans (who had been getting forward constantly throughout the match) headed home well to make it six.

Mulcahy spoiled it all when grabbing a goal back for the Irish side following something of a mistake by Smalling who over-committed himself in a wide position which left him hopelessly out of position.

A few minutes later, Hernandez was brought down in the penalty area and the referee awarded a penalty which was duly converted by Nani with typical audacity.

And so it ended 7-1 to United.

Whatever anyone says about the quality of the opposition here, there were tons of positives to take from this game. One of the worries pre-season has been “What will we do if Rooney gets injured? Where will the goals come from?” Well, seven goals here from six different scorers and not a Rooney goal in sight would suggest that we have more than enough goals scattered around the squad for that to be less of a concern than some would make it out to be.

The return of Valencia and Vidic was also great to see. Valencia, in particular, looks every bit a United player now and was the clear Man-of-the-Match for this one.

Owen showed he’s still got it so long as his legs hold out, Chicharito can’t stop scoring and I don’t think Smalling was beaten in the air once all night.

The one bad point of the evening was when Carrick had to come off due to some kind of ankle injury. I am not sure at this stage how serious it is (it didn’t look particularly serious – he walked off the pitch) but given that this was his first bit of football for months, it wasn’t an ideal comeback for him.

All in all though, a great night’s work by the lads. Sunday’s match against Chelsea should be enough to blow away a few more cobwebs and then it will be full steam ahead for Newcastle!

Sunday, 9th May 2010 – KO: 16:00

And so we come to the final game of the season and it has a strange feel about it. We will kick-off the match at the same time as Chelsea and if they win their game, they win the Premier League title, regardless of what we do here today.

However, I would like to think that we will just go all out to win this game in some style and if the records show at the end of ninety minutes that we missed out on an historic fourth League title in a row by just a single point well… there would be no disgrace in that.

I’m not going to analyse this one too much. I hope to see Fergie go with 4-4-2 with Berby and Rooney up front and rest can take care of themselves.

I think we will win this game and we could win by a pretty clear margin. Unfortunately, the bookies also believe we will win by at least two goals (best price for the -1.5 AH is 1.4!).

So, the question is, how many will we score and can we keep a clean sheet?

I’m going to stick my neck out a bit and believe that we can win this one at least 3-0. I expect news to come through from Stamford Bridge that our title dreams are as good as over at some stage of the match and at that point, the United players will be able to play without pressure and even Berby might knock in a goal or two.

The bet is 2 points Manchester United -2.5 AH @ 2.3 with Canbet.

United were on a bit of a hiding to nothing here. We had to win this game and hope for a favour from Wigan who were playing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge but the news from there just went from bad to worse and Wigan were 2-0 down and reduced to ten men after just over half an hour.

At that point, the United players would have known the game was just about up.

However, to their immense credit, they never stopped plugging away in an attempt to at least send the supporters home with something to smile about.

Stoke rarely threatened until quite late into the second half when Van Der Sar needed to be at his very best to produce a couple of great saves. Apart from that, it was all pretty much one-way traffic and United could have scored six or seven here but the curse that hovers over Berbatov hasn’t finished with him yet.

Berbatov probably had one of his best games in a United shirt here today but still couldn’t find the back of the net although his run and pass for Giggs’ (pretty soft, to be honest) goal in the 38th minute was fantastic.

Fergie went for this one with a 4-4-2 line-up with VDS, Evra, Rio, Vidic, Neville, Giggs, Fletcher, Scholes, Nani, Rooney and Berbatov and he might now wish he had gone with this formation a little more often as we had more than enough in midfield and plenty of options up front which resulted in a convincing and comprehensive win.

In the end, it was all to no avail as Chelsea went on to hammer Wigan 8-0 which meant that it didn’t really matter what happened here.

And so another season ends but this time, we have had to settle for second place.

Sunday, 2nd May 2010 – KO: 16:00

For much of the week, the game between Liverpool and Chelsea has been billed as the “title decider”. If Chelsea fail to win that one then they hand the title to us.

This assumes, of course, that we are going to beat Sunderland today and that isn’t exactly guaranteed.

Sunderland have nothing much more to play for this season but neither did Blackburn when we could only manage a 0-0 draw against the the other week.

The good news is that I do believe Rooney will be back for this one and I think he will play alongside Berbatov in something nearer a 4-4-2 formation designed to just go for it.

Whatever the result is between Liverpool and Chelsea, I think that we need to be going all out for the win here to at least take the season to the final day.

Sunderland have been good at home this season and have lost just two games (against Chelsea and Villa) but have beaten the likes of Spurs, Liverpool and Arsenal.

I’m not going to go overboard on this one. The result of the Chelsea/Liverpool game is going to be a factor as it will undoubtedly affect our mood. We could come into this game invigorated with a very real chance of winning the League Title or we could be coming into the game knowing deep down that the game is up and if we need a goal in the dying minutes, will the desire to keep pushing still be there the same it has been for much of the season?

I am going to go with Sunderland in the +1.5 Asian Handicap because even if we do win, I can’t see it being by a huge margin.

The bet is 2 points Sunderland +1.5 AH @ 1.75 with Bet365.

Review to follow…

Saturday, 24th April 2010 – KO: 12:45

I must admit to developing a bit of a soft spot for Tottenham this season and if it were up to me, I would give both of these teams three points each at the end of this match, regardless of the result.

I don’t want to see City get that fourth place and I don’t want to see Liverpool get it. Given the choice between Villa and Spurs, I would go for Spurs quite simply because they play a better brand of football which deserves every success it gets.

Spurs have been the “nearly men” of football for as far back as I can remember and after going through a plethora of managers it must be a bitter sweet realisation for the Spurs fans that the answer was right under their noses in the form of Harry Redknapp.

The comparison between Spurs and United this season is perhaps significant because in the past there has always seemed to be one player in their team that us United fans have thought would be a good addition to our own team but this season there are several.

I think the likes of Gomes, Defoe, Lennon, Bale, Dawson, Modric and (yes, I’m going there), Crouch could all do a job at Manchester United right now.

Bale in particular is a very interesting prospect because I watched his goal against Chelsea last week and the speed and strength he showed to get to the ball ahead of the defender, the power he showed to cut inside, the skill he showed to create the space for the shot and the precision he displayed to power the ball into the bottom corner all reminded me of a certain Mr Ronaldo.

I don’t know who Fergie is going to play on our right side of defence but they had better eat their Weetabix or they could find themselves in for a torrid time against this young man on an upward curve.

All in all, after the mutual backscratching of last weekend, it does seem a shame that at least one of the teams in this game is probably going to see all their good work undone after this game.

History is very much on our side as Spurs have an extremely poor record at our place and I think the last time they actually won at Old Trafford in the League, Gary Lineker scored the winner.

It must also be said that whilst they have beaten Arsenal and Chelsea in successive games, both of those were at White Hart Lane where their record has been far better than away from home all season. In fact, if they could have picked up a few more points on their travels then they would have that fourth placed nailed down already.

Their last away game saw them lose 3-1 to Sunderland and a few before them saw them lose 1-0 to Wolves.

I really do think that Spurs might well come into this game with a fight but that we will eventually leave with the points.

Unfortunately, the bookies are giving very little away on the United win (odds are around 1.46 for the United win) which I find a bit ridiculous. They also think that this will be a high scoring game but remarkably, a lot of our games against Spurs at OT have not been the goal fests some would expect. Only two of the last seven have seen more than two goals being scored.

I do believe that both sides will be wary of the attacking threat of the other for this one. Had the game been taking place six months ago then perhaps both would be a little more adventurous but there is simply too much at stake for both teams and I can see a more cagey affair.

Having said that, both Redknapp and Fergie have always struck me as gambling types and they might just decide to throw their cards onto the table and see who comes up with the winning hand. At this stage of the season, you need to make your own luck and coming away as a gallant 1-0 loser counts for nothing, you might as well lose 3-2 but go down trying so I am wary of the goals market. What might start out as a cagey game could end up being a shoot-out.

I do believe that United will win this game but the score is anyone’s guess. For this one, I am going back into the corner market and my guess is that there will be a low corner count.

The bet is 2 points less than 12 corners @ 1.82 with Bet365.

As expected, this one did start off pretty cagey and there wasn’t even a shot by either team until around the half hour mark when a Tottenham player fell over whilst kicking the ball in the general direction of United’s goal which rolled tamely into Van Der Sar’s arms.

I must admit that I spent the best part of an hour trying to work out what the point of Ryan Giggs was as not for the first time in recent games, he didn’t exactly set the place alight but when the time came, he certainly showed the value of having that experience behind him.

A neat backheel by Berby into the path of Evra saw the hapless Assou-Ekotto bundle Evra over with all the subtlety of a brick and the ref had no choice but to point to the spot.

Up stepped Captain Giggs and slotted the penalty right into the side of the goal – Gomes appeared to get fingertips to it but such was the accuracy of the kick, it wasn’t enough. 1-0 to United.

Disappointingly, however, the lead wasn’t to last long as Ledley King used Michael Carrick’s back to get up for a corner kick which he headed in impressively (although Rafael, who was supposed to be marshalling the post strayed off the line – had he stayed where he was, he would have probably cleared it – this season seems to be one long lesson for the young Brazilian).

So, 1-1 with just twenty minutes to go and no Rooney (apparently, he has now picked up a groin strain in training) – where would the winner come from?

Cue Nani who has grown so much in the last few months that the shirt finally appears to fit very comfortably.

A neat build up which led to a perfectly weighted through ball from Macheda still left Nani with a fair bit to do but he dinked the ball over the advancing Gomes from a very tight angle with all the confidence of a player who appears to have shaken off any insecurities he may have had six months ago.

A few minutes later, Nani was again running through on goal but was bundled over from behind by Palacios and the ref had no alternative but to point to the spot again.

Once again, up stepped Giggs who opted for the other side this time but with no loss of accuracy as Gomes again went the right way but could not stop the perfectly placed spot-kick from hitting the back of the net.

So, after a nervy opening and an even nervier patch just after Spurs had drawn level, we finally had some daylight and were able to see it out fairly comfortably.

All was not lost for Spurs however as other results went their way and they go into their last few games with their fourth place still intact.

Saturday, 17th April 2010 – KO: 12:45

The most eagerly awaited Manchester Derby since erm… the last one is more interesting than usual because for the first time in living memory it comes towards the end of the season and BOTH teams still have something to play for quite seperate from the usual “bragging rights”.

A win for us here will put us a point behind Chelsea and the pressure this will apply is just about our best chance of getting back into the title race.

As for City, they are currently occupying the fourth spot and a win for them here will keep them there regardless of what Tottenham do against Chelsea later in the day.

A draw would probably not be a disaster for City but it would be no good to us.

In any case, these Manchester derbies rarely end in draws – there’s usually a winner and I see no reason why either team will settle for a point here today – even if the winning goal comes well into injury time as it did for us when we met City at our place earlier in the season.

Fergie has been keeping the Rooney fitness situation close to his chest but I think Rooney will play. If he was willing to risk him against Bayern the other week then he will surely “risk” him for this one. We need a win here today and if the Blackburn game showed us anything last week it is that without him, we are severely lacking in firepower. With the way City are scoring recently, we are likely to need at least two goals to win here.

I don’t see much point in trying to analyse this one further. There are so many plots and sub-plots surrounding this one that just about anything could happen.

We have played City three times already this season and the one thing all three have had in common is goals – a total of 14 in the three games. Whether this one will follow suit is hard to say because it could be that with the importance of the result, both teams might play a more cagey game.

It is clear that our defence is going to have to be at the top of their game for this one and the silly mistakes that have seen us concede a few goals in recent weeks will have to be eradicated. We are also due a bit of luck on the referee’s decisions front.

If we can keep the Argentinian Troll restricted to his headless chicken impersonation and the Welsh Whinger Bellamy quieter than we did in the game at our place then we might be able to go on and win this one.

On the other hand, if Rio decides with a few minutes to play that the very best thing to do is try an audacious chip over a midfielder’s head or Rafael tries to shake an opponent’s hand forty minutes too early then we might find ourselves with an uphill battle.

Personally, I would like United to go into this game with the attitude that there is nothing more to lose and everything to gain – take the game to City and steamroller them from the opening whistle.

As for a bet on the game well, it is a tough one because literally anything could happen here but it somehow seems written in the stars that either or both of Rooney or Tevez will score in this one. It is possible to back both and still come out with a profit if either scores but I can only pick one for this site so I will back Rooney to come back with a bang.

The bet is 2 points Wayne Rooney to Score at Anytime @ 2.2 with Coral.

Well, if this is how Paul Scholes plays the day after signing a new contract then I think Fergie has made a big mistake by giving him a new one year contract… he should put him on weekly contracts!

I have been… not necessarily critical of the older players this season but the fact that we still seem to be relying on them a bit too heavily and I must admit that my heart sank a little when I saw that all the old stagers (Scholes, Neville and Giggs) were all included in the starting line-up here.

We were coming in against a very hungry Manchester City who had scored something like 14 goals in their previous three matches and were as determined as ever to get one over on us for so many reasons.

However, I have to say that this was the best I have seen Scholesy play all season. He really looked up for it with some great tackles, some good forward runs and passes and, most important of all, the winning goal.

This is the kind of thing Scholesy has built his reputation on and it was good to hear that Fergie had told him to get forward more because that is still where he is most effective but far too often this season, he seems to have been restricted to nothing further forward than a few yards from the opposing penalty area.

Rooney came back from his injury but still didn’t look 100% and had to be substituted yet again and it is probably just as well that we have a full week before our next game against Tottenham.

Evans came back to partner Vidic in defence and looked much better for his little break.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was the fact that Fergie chose Gibson ahead of Carrick in the centre of midfield and that must be a worry for Carrick.

Gabriel Obertan came on late on but still appears nervous at this level and having watched him play brilliantly for the reserves, I know that he is far more assured than he shows when playing for the first team.

Whatever… today was all about getting three points to give us a glimmer of hope in the title run-in and we did that.

Some will say that it wasn’t vintage United – that it was a fairly average performance. We seem to have been putting in quite a few of these performances this season.

As it stands, we have just limited one of the most potent attacks in the league to a couple of half-chances and beaten them 1-0 to put ourselves one point behind the league leaders… we must be doing something right.