Both Manchester clubs are in action this Saturday. Manchester United travel to Anfield to face rivals Liverpool in what promises to be a thrilling lunchtime encounter. Then at 3pm, Manchester City play host to Stoke City at the Etihad Stadium. Both clubs are unbeaten in the Premier League this season and are doing the city proud as joint leaders at the top of the table.
The Liverpool v Man Utd match is the big draw of the two games. It’s widely considered to be one of the biggest fixtures of the football calendar. It will be screened on Sky Sport and is bound to feature in a stack of matched bets promotions. United will be keen to continue their momentum but if they come up short and City are able to better their result, then the initiative will be with the Citizens in the title race.
There are no guarantees in football but the build up to Liverpool v Man Utd has had a distinct theme. The Merseysiders have endured a difficult start to the season and are not getting favourable results. This has their fans nervous about what could transpire while United supporters are brimming with confidence ahead of the showdown.
Man Utd are averaging three goals per match in the Premier League and have kept six clean sheets in seven matches so far. Liverpool have only failed to score once but have conceded an average of 1.71 goals per match. However, the majority of those have come away from home and they have let in just one goal at Anfield, suggesting that a victory for Man Utd may not be as straightforward as some think.
With the greatest of respect to the Potters, Manchester City will be expecting a much easier afternoon than their city rivals. Pep Guardiola’s men have been irresistible at times this season and are widely expected to prevail against Stoke City. Former City boss Mark Hughes will of course be keen to try and get one over on his old employers but the stats suggest that will be a tall order.
Manchester City are scoring at a rate of 3.14 goals per game and are chasing a fifth consecutive clean sheet in this match. Stoke have been struggling defensively and have only one clean sheet to their name this season. They’re not looking great in attack either with a goal per game on average, a figure that drops to just 0.67 away from home. It all points to an easy win for Man City and it would be a surprise if they didn’t secure three points.
The Manchester clubs look set to battle it out until the end of the season and it would take a brave punter to bet against one of them lifting the trophy in May.
Feat. image credit: edhiggins [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
