Sunderland vs Man Utd – Form Guide, Player To Watch, Betting Tips & More…

The Premier League returns this weekend after a two-week international break and league leaders Manchester United travel to Wearside to face Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Saturday afternoon.

Preview

United are running away with the league and currently boast an impressive 15-point advantage over reigning champions Manchester City, so they have their 20th league title in the bag barring a catastrophic loss of form. Which is unthinkable under the stewardship of Sir Alex Ferguson.

Losing the title last season in the dying seconds to rivals City hurt the Scot badly and there’s no way he’ll let slip this kind of lead. No chance. The main thing is for United to try and secure the double and possibly challenge Chelsea’s record points total of 95.

The only hope for Sunderland this weekend is that Ferguson has one eye on Monday’s FA Cup quarter final replay with Chelsea. The Blues fixture list hasn’t been kind on United here and the likelihood is Fergie will rotate his squad for both games meaning the likes of Robin van Persie may sit this one out if the United supremo would rather save him for the clash at Stamford Bridge.

Previous meetings

United have an excellent recent record against Sunderland winning 17 of the previous 23 league meetings including the last four on the bounce, whilst they won the corresponding fixture this season 3-1 at Old Trafford. Last season the Red Devils edged it 1-0 at the Stadium of Light and you wouldn’t bet against a similar scoreline this time around.

League form guide

Look away now Sunderland fans. United are in formidable form, winning their last six league games straight and have taken an incredible 47 points from the last 51 available.

Compare that to Martin Niell’s men who are winless in seven and have taken just 3 points from the last 24 available, it’s easy to see why United are the clear favourites for this one.

Betting tips

We enjoy a bet or two here at Football-Talk towers and we think it’s important to do research before handing over our hard-earned cash. That’s why we use Betegy.com, which is a great resource that uses statistical data to come up with free accurate football predictions each week.

The software has crunched the numbers and their algorithm predicts a narrow away victory for Man Utd. A home win comes out at just 21% likelihood, the draw 34% with the away win a massive 45%. This reflects how dominant United have been in this fixture in recent times.

Paddy Power are currently offering odds of 4/6 for a United win but we like to look for a little more value with our bets. Betegy also predicts the exact scoreline and their software predicts a 1-0 win for Man Utd, which is a far more tempting 5/1 with Paddy Power. So that would be our tip for the game.

Why not head over to Betegy and see what all the fuss is about? It’s free to join and you’ll receive free and accurate predictions for games throughout Europe every week. They have an excellent success rate, 76% over the last three games, so far so why not give it a try?

Player to watch

If he plays, RVP would be the obvious choice, but I have a feeling he’ll be rested for this game so Wayne Rooney will take over the mantle of being the main threat. Rooney was in great form for England against Montenegro in midweek, particularly the first half when he opened the scoring. He’s also been in fine form of late for United, scoring in his last three games, so I’d back the former Everton man to get himself on the score-sheet again this weekend.

Paddy Power are offering odds of 18/1 that Rooney will be the only goalscorer in a 1-0 win for United, so that’s certainly worth a few quid in my opinion.

What would be your score predictions for the game and who would be your player to watch? Leave your suggestions in the comments section below.