In my preview of the season, I had Chelsea down to finish second in the Premier League. I felt that we would win it but Chelsea’s experience would see them finish above City again and that they would take us right down to the final game or two.

However, Chelsea have been a shadow of their former selves for much of this season and currently sit in fourth and a massive twelve points behind us. With City winning yesterday, that makes them fifteen points off the top spot and at this stage, they will do well to overtake Spurs for third as they trail them by some seven points.

What appears to have happened over recent seasons is that Abramovich has tightened the purse strings and all those top notch players they bought for hundreds of millions a few years ago are now reaching the autumn of their careers but they haven’t been replaced with anywhere near the same quality.

When the cash has been splashed, it hasn’t always worked out and perhaps the most spectacular example of this is the case of Fernando Torres. A few years ago, I had him and Drogba as the best two strikers in the league but since the 2010 World Cup, Torres has gone from being recognised as one of the best strikers on the planet to a an embarrassing £50million flop.

The reverse fixture this season at Old Trafford will be remembered as much for Torres’ miss as much as anything else.

There. Now I’ve set Torres up to bang in a hat-trick against us this afternoon.

I think what the game against them at OT proved though was that, on their day, Chelsea are still capable of fantastic football and whilst we ran out 3-1 winners on the day, we rode our luck on several occasions and the score could have been anything you like up to and including 8-8.

As per usual, we stagger into this game with a hospital ward full of casualties and therefore it is difficult to say who will start although there has been some encouraging news on Cleverly and Young.

Valencia has been on fire of late and so I expect him to resume on the right but if Nani has not shaken off the injury that kept him out of our last game then perhaps Young will make a reappearance on the left but I believe Nani is fit and so Fergie might just opt to keep Young on the bench for this one.

I would also expect to see Rooney come back from his own injury for this one but Fergie has a dilemma as to who will play up front alongside him unless he ducks the issue completely and goes for a five-man midfield.

Chelsea have their own selection problems, especially in defence, as I believe Terry is injured and Ashley Cole is suspended meaning that new signing Gary Cahill could well make his debut in what will be a pretty untested and therefore vulnerable back four.

One thing that did surprise me about the Manager’s press conference was the fact that we have not beaten Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the league for ten years but I do believe that if there was ever a good time to put that particular stat to rest then now is that time.

Stamford Bridge used to be a fortress and any visiting team knew that if they came back with a point, they’d had a good game but that aura of invincibility is now fading and Chelsea have already lost three of their eleven home games this season (Villa, Liverpool and Arsenal) and, Manchester City aside, the teams they have beaten there have all been teams they would usually be expected to beat.

I believe that we have to win this afternoon. It is perhaps a game which City and Spurs will be hoping to see us drop points in and a draw would be an excellent result for those two teams. However, if we can take the points then we go back on top alongside City with another tough fixture behind us.

Rather than get too fancy with the betting, I think that the price on the straight United win represents good value and that’s what I will be going for this afternoon.

The bet is 2 points United to Win @ 2.75 with Coral.

The Red Devil - A Manchester United and Football Blog

Well, today is transfer deadline day and, as I type, I am watching Sky Sports News desperately trying to turn what has been a pretty boring transfer window into something exciting… “News just in! Joe Bloggs has signed for the Dog & Duck for a fee reported to be around two pints of lager and a packet of crisps”…

For our part, it appears that we have said goodbye to a couple of players (Mame Biram Diouf and Ravel Morrison) and although there have been murmurs of a couple of relatively unknown players coming in, there’s nothing to get too excited about as a Manchester United fan on the transfer front.

Anyway, this has nothing to do with the most important thing about today and that is the visit of Stoke this evening.

Stoke are enjoying another solid season in the Premier League but I suspect their current eighth place is as high as they will get this season. Their away form has been a bit hit and miss so far but a 0-0 at Anfield a couple of weeks ago was a decent result for them but generally, when they have played the better teams away they have been beaten by comfortable margins (3-0 against City, 3-1 against Arsenal).

Our home record, whilst not as good as last season, is still the third best in the league and we have beaten Stoke on the three occasions that we have faced them here in the Premier League although the 2-1 victory in our last game against them just over twelve months ago was the closest of them all which probably illustrates the progress Stoke have made over the last few years.

As usual, the main problem we seem to have is on the injury front and I have not been able to establish whether Rooney and/or Nani will be back for this one although Rooney does look the more likely of the two to appear this evening. After being an unused sub in our FA Cup match against Liverpool, Ferdinand also looks like he could come back into the centre of defence and if that is the case then I think I would like to see him partner Smalling who just looks generally better in the air than Evans.

In fact, this could be a key factor for us in this match as the reports are also that Lindegaard has suffered some kind of injury and so De Gea might continue in goal. Now, De Gea is a United player and I want him to succeed here and become a legend like Schmeichel and Van Der Sar but right now, I’m afraid that I have to watch him with my fingers over my eyes every time our opponents fling the ball in from dead-ball situations… and that is exactly what Stoke like to do the most and if De Gea is in net then it will only encourage them, I feel.

However, I still believe we will win here tonight but I wouldn’t go crazy for the 1.33(ish) price the bookies are offering for an outright win for us and I do believe that this could be a close scoreline, especially if it is correct that Nani and Rooney won’t feature.

The key to the bet on this one is whether or not we can keep a clean sheet, I feel. A 2-0 win for us would not be out of the question but I would like to see exactly what the defence is looking like before going for something like that.

At this moment in time, I am generally of the view that both teams will score this evening and that is going to be the bet because I think it offers value on what I see as a 50/50 toss of a coin type situation.

The bet is 2 points Both Teams to Score @ 2.1 with Bet365.

The Red Devil - A Manchester United and Football Blog

Naturally, after the drubbing we gave Arsene Whinger’s boys at Old Trafford earlier in the season, this one has attracted all kinds of speculation as to what might happen this time at the Emirates and whilst nobody believes we will see a similar scoreline most do expect there to be several goals in the game again.

Personally, I have a feeling that it could go the opposite way with both teams playing very cagily.

After a disastrous start to the season followed by an incredible, Van Persie-inspired run of results, Arsenal are currently going through another little dip and the prospect of them not even qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in (fifteen?) years is looking a very real possibility.

However, it has been on their travels where Arsenal have suffered most; at the Emirates, they have been very strong and have only suffered the one defeat there this season (their very first home game of the season against Liverpool when Arsenal were struggling and Liverpool were full of optimism for the new season).

They have conceded just six goals at the Emirates in the league but, somewhat unusually for Arsenal, have scored just sixteen which from ten games is not the stuff Arsenal have been renowned for down the years and they do rely far too heavily on Van Persie to provide the goals.

As for us, well, the injury situation does appear to be resolving itself which means that Fergie will have a decent number of players to choose from and it is just as well because this match represents the start of a tough set of fixtures which we will do well to come through unscathed.

I actually have a feeling that Fergie won’t pick what we might by now consider to be his “strongest side” for this one. Park might get the nod somewhere in midfield (he seems to have a happy knack of scoring against Arsenal) but as for the rest, it’s anyone guess but I think there’ll be a couple of surprises.

I’ve been on a bit of a roll with the bets of late and I suppose that run has to end at some point and it could well be today because I’m going to go slightly against the general consensus for the bet here.

The bet is 2 points Under 2.5 Goals @ 2.1 with BetVictor (the new name for Victor Chandler).

The Red Devil - A Manchester United and Football Blog

After last weekend’s fireworks against City this one has a lot to live up to but the players really do have to get back into winning ways in the League because it has to be remembered that, prior to the City win, we witnessed two pretty mediocre displays which got us all the points we deserved.

Bolton, meanwhile, have managed to finally put some more points on the board in their last couple of games and two away wins in their last two away fixtures means that they arrive here in some semblance of form.

However, trips to Old Trafford have not been particularly profitable for Bolton for years now (they last won here over nine years ago) and we have won the last eight at Old Trafford – sometimes by comfortable margins but in recent years the scoreline has been much closer and none more so than this fixture last season which we won by a solitary goal (Berba scored the late, late winner).

I’d like to think that our “blip” is over for a while now and that we’ll get back to business here and win by a decent margin but news coming from Fergie that the likes of Jones and Smalling are “doubts” don’t inspire me with great confidence – how many more injuries can we withstand? Personally, I think that this might be Fergie playing his little games and I expect at least one of those two to make the starting line-up, if not both.

Anyway, we really should have the beating of Bolton here. Surely Blackburn provided us with the “home shock” of the season and we’re not going to have another within the space of two consecutive home games. In fact, I think we might score three in this one and win by a fairly comfortable margin. Unfortunately, the bookies feel the same and so the prices on offer are miserly.

So, I think that being slightly contrary with the bet will either blow up in my face or prove rather profitable so I’m going to go against the grain a bit.

As for the team selection… well… it’s never been an easy job at the best of times but with Fergie now plucking players out of retirement and naming them in the squad just an hour before kick-off, it has become even more difficult so I’m edging my bets on this one too and I’m going for the following:-

Schmeichel, Irwin, Bruce, Stam, Neville, Giggs, Scholes, Keane, Beckham, Cantona, Van Nistelrooy.

That lot should take care of Bolton.

The bet is 2 points Under 3.5 goals @1.97 with Bet365.

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I remember, many moons ago, when Newcastle were our closest title rivals and they beat us 5-0 in this very fixture (that match was actually over 15 years ago now but for many a United fan, it can be remembered as vividly as yesterday).

However, it would appear that Newcastle have been made to pay for that one ten-fold as we have generally beaten them ever since – their only other win over us was way back in 2001 when they ran out 4-3 winners in a match made infamous by Roy Keane’s attempted punch at Alan Shearer!

Of course, they somehow held us to a 1-1 draw just over a month ago at Old Trafford but that was when they were playing well and I think it is fair to say that luck wasn’t on our side that day.

Newcastle started this season extremely well and for a time, the Toon Army were tottling off to bed with little dreams of Champions League football next season but it was probably only a matter of time before the run ended and they found themselves in a more “Newcastle-like” position in the league and they currently sit in seventh place so by my reckoning, they still have a place or two to drop.

Now, having said that, they will probably stuff us 5-0 again tonight but I’m tending to think that we’re not going to suffer two defeats in a row.

As for our team selection, there were a couple of surprises in the Blackburn match with Anderson and Rafael coming back from injury and, of course, Rooney being dropped but I expect him to be back for this one tonight with possibly the in-form Berbatov alongside him.

The defence and midfield remains as tricky as ever to predict so I’m not even going to attempt it.

The main thing is that we need three points tonight in order to stay in touch with Manchester City who, of course, beat Liverpool 3-0 last night to go three points clear again.

I think we can do it tonight. Our away form has been extremely good this season (in fact, we have the best away record in the league by quite a margin) whilst Newcastle’s recent home form has been patchy.

The hard thing to predict is whether or not we will be able to continue our run of clean sheets in away games. We have won the last five without conceding a single goal because if we can do that then I believe that this will be a low scoring game – possibly 1-0 or 2-0 to Manchester United. However, I think that the run will come to an end tonight and we will need to score at least two to pick up the three points.

For this reason, I’m going to have a stab at the Over 2.5 Goals market.

The bet is 2 points Over 2.5 Goals @ 1.87 with Bet365.

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Today, Sir Alex celebrates his 70th Birthday and there’s nothing he’d like more than three points in this early kick-off against low-flying Blackburn when they turn up at Old Trafford.

Steve Kean will probably just be glad that the vociferous element of his own “supporters” will likely be drowned out here.

Blackburn’s away record hasn’t actually been that bad recently (better than their home form actually) which must say something about how their own fans’ protests are having an effect on the team. Anyway, that’s all by the by. Que sera sera and all that.

Having watched us smack in ten goals without reply in our last two games, Blackburn will no doubt be reminded of this fixture last season when we beat them 7-1. To be fair, such a scoreline seems unlikely because whilst Blackburn are losing and drawing far too often, they aren’t actually conceding too many and aren’t getting beaten by many.

As usual, we have our own problems going into this one in terms of injuries and it is our defence which is looking a bit ragged at the moment after news that Smalling has some kind of viral illness (tonsillitis according to Fergie) and Evans will be sidelined by the injury he picked up in our last match. With the FA Cup tie against City looming large, it seems like a gamble for Fergie to play Rio in this one so I wouldn’t expect him to play, even if fit but Jones has apparently recovered from the knock to the face he took a couple of games ago and could resume in defence but it’s looking likely that he will be partnering Carrick in there.

Evra will take the left but the right could see Fryers given another chance to shine.

The midfield, therefore, is likely to be Nani, Park, Gibson and Valencia.

Upfront could be interesting and I wonder if we might see the Berbatov/Rooney option restored from the start here or even Rooney again rested with Hernandez playing alongside Berbatov from the start.

Given the number of injuries we’ve got at the moment, that doesn’t look like too bad a line-up and I fancy it would be more than enough to take care of Blackburn but they do have some decent players of their own and I still can’t shake the feeling that this one has “banana-skin” written on it somewhere.

However, with City playing tomorrow, this is an excellent opportunity for us to take the top spot for at least a day and put City under some pressure as the “chasers” and surely no mistakes will be made on our side.

I think we will win this game but I’m not sure that it will be by another landslide and so backing Blackburn in the Asian Handicap might prove profitable.

The bet is 2 points Blackburn +2.5 @ 1.84 with Victor Chandler.

The Red Devil - A Manchester United and Football Blog

For obvious reasons, time is at a premium today so I’m going to make this one very brief.

We’re playing well at the moment whilst Wigan continue to come generally close in many games but mostly leave without a cigar. They have enjoyed some decent results in recent games though and do seem to be getting their act together after a disastrous string of defeats.

However, I just think that at Old Trafford, we have to be looking to come away with a comfortable win this afternoon. Unfortunately, the bookies are thinking exactly the same and the prices for us on the -1.5 AH are around 1.5 and the Over 2.5 goals is around 1.4 so there’s nothing being given away there.

For this one, I’m going to bet that we get at Wigan from the off and score fairly early on.

The bet is 2 points on the first goal to be scored within 0 – 27 minutes @ 1.80 with Victor Chandler.

The Red Devil - A Manchester United and Football Blog

A tricky fixture awaits us this evening as we make the trip to Craven Cottage to take on one of those strange sides that are often cannon fodder away from home but prove incredibly difficult to beat when on their home turf.

In fact, we have only managed to beat them three times in our last nine visits there (our last victory coming almost four years ago now) and they have beaten us twice… the other four were obviously draws.

They have been beaten there already this season by Everton and Tottenham but have beaten Liverpool and held City to a draw (although I seem to remember that City were 2-0 up and cruising in that game before they took their foot off the gas and allowed Fulham to get back into the match – although Fulham clearly deserve credit for taking advantage of the situation and battling to the end).

What makes this one a little harder to predict is the feeling that Fergie will probably make a few changes this evening. He has stuck with the same team for two games running which is unusual in itself – three on the bounce would almost be unheard of.

Given that Hernandez played half an hour against QPR over the weekend, I’d say it’s 99% certain that he will start tonight should Fergie go with the 4-4-2 type formation but it is the midfield areas that are hard to predict. The Valencia, Carrick, Jones and Nani quartet has looked fantastic in our last two games but I have a feeling that Fergie might decide to rest Jones now and perhaps bring in Park. Ashley Young might even get the nod over Valencia.

Due to injuries, the back four probably picks itself at the moment so I’d expect Smalling, Evans, Rio and Evra with De Gea in goal.

As for Fulham, well, there does seem to be a bit of a changing of the guard there since Jol took over as manager and whilst I hear that Bobby Zamora is fit to play, rumours that there have been a fall-out between player and manager won’t go away and the striker is not guaranteed a place tonight.

One player that will surely be eager to impress tonight is Bryan Ruiz and it will be interesting to see how he gets on.

Anyway, prediction time. A tough game is expected and we’ll do extremely well to come back with the three points and even if we do win, I don’t think it will be by many and I do expect Fulham to score.

The bet is 2 points Both Teams to Score @ 1.91 with Coral.

The Red Devil - A Manchester United and Football Blog

QPR arrived in the Premier League this season with a reputation for being a pretty formidable home side but this appeared to have been blown away when they were trounced by, of all teams, Bolton, 4-0 on the opening day of the season. However, they have proven themselves to be a tough nut to crack at Loftus Road since then and, whilst they have only won once at home this season, the only other defeat was against Manchester City last month when City overcame them 3-2 and, whilst I can’t remember the details, I seem to remember that QPR were somewhat unlucky to come out of that game with nothing.

Anyway, I think it is fair to say that we’ll do well to come out of this one with three points but it seems to be the case that that is exactly what we must do if we are to maintain the pressure on City at the top of the table. Indeed, a win here and we will hit top spot although I do expect our reign to be brief as I think city will get at least the point they require against Arsenal when they kick off a couple of hours after this match finishes.

I’m just hoping that Fergie goes with a line-up similar to that which he played against Wolves in our last match and, given the injury situation, it is difficult to see how he can deviate too much. Certainly, I’d be happy to see the Carrick/Jones central midfield given another go because I really felt that that was instrumental last time out.

It’s going to be Rooney and A.N.Other upfront and Welbeck seems to be as good as any but Diouf didn’t do his chances any harm with a midweek brace for the reserves and perhaps this is the kind of game where he might be given the chance to press his claims.

This is one of those games that is difficult to call. We will be expected to win but probably not easily. QPR are tough to beat at home but they probably draw too many and actually have one of the worst home records in the league in terms of points collected but they tend not to get beaten by many and that defeat against Bolton one the opening day stands out like a sore thumb amongst their results in recent seasons.

As for ourselves, we have not been scoring many of late and our 4-1 against Wolves last week sticks out like a sore thumb amongst a string of low-scoring performances but that was at Old Trafford against a team that is generally struggling even more than QPR after a week where the players owed themselves and the fans something to feel good about.

I’m generally torn about this one. On the one hand, there’s plenty of value to be had with going with the big United win but there’s value to be had with QPR keeping us to a draw. I don’t know whether or not last week’s 4-1 is the start of a scoring spree for Rooney and Nani or whether it was a flash in the pan.

I’d like to think that we can at least keep QPR out and keep another clean sheet and score at least one at the other end and this is the basis of my bet this week.

The bet is 2 points Under 2.5 Goals @ 2.05 with Victor Chandler.

The Red Devil - A Manchester United and Football Blog

With the midweek exit from the Champions League still undoubtedly creating something of a depression around the place, the players will have to lift themselves this afternoon as we attempt to stay in touch with Manchester City at the top of the table and keep our Premier League title challenge on track.

Looking at our injury list going into this one makes for quite alarming reading as it seems that Vidic, Rafael, Fabio, Anderson, Cleverley, Berbatov, Owen and Chicharito are all injured  - throw in a couple of midfielders and a goalie and that would be a pretty decent Premier League outfit right there.

Looking at Wolves’ injury list… no injuries – and there have been times when I have felt that Mick McCarthy gets no luck.

Anyway, games between us and Wolves have tended to be pretty close affairs and they did beat us last season (although that was at their place) and I tend to think that this afternoon will be the same story. I’m expecting us to go on a goal-spree at any time but until it happens, it is probably best to assume that we will continue to struggle to score goals and two is as many as we can hope to see from us this afternoon.

Which then means that it rests on the defence to make those goals enough to win the game. We’ve given some sloppy goals away this season but, prior to the Basle game, we had started to look a bit meaner in defence, however, we now obviously have to contend with life without Vidic for the rest of the season which tends to suggest that we might see a few more softer goals scored against us from here on in.

I really have no idea how things will go today and at this point, I’d just be extremely happy to see us come through with three more points on the table and no more injuries.

I have a feeling that both teams will score today though and that will form the basis of the bet.

The bet is 2 points Both Teams to Score @ 2.2 with Betfred.

The Red Devil - A Manchester United and Football Blog