23 Sep

Stoke City vs Manchester United – (Saturday 3.00pm)

Posted by Scorecaster in Uncategorized.

Stoke City vs Manchester United:

Due to the massive profile of Manchester United, the focus of the media is likely to be solely on them & given what happened in the Manchester derby that is understandable. It would be dangerous, however, to dismiss Stoke City in this fixture & it is not the foregone conclusion many people will believe it to be.

This fixture brings together two sides which are vastly different in terms of their tactical approach to games & the quality of their squads.

Stoke City has been very successful under Tony Pulis, the highlight being the achievement of comfortably surviving in the Premier League last season.

Tony Pulis is a manager who knows exactly what his players can do & he knows exactly how he wants to set his teams up & his ability to give the players belief & confidence enables them to give their best week in, week out.

Tony Pulis will never claim to be a tactical genius, but he has developed a team system that gets results & especially at home, which is key for any side & even more so for Stoke City with the incredible atmosphere their fans produce.

Stoke City will know they can’t outplay Manchester United in terms of flowing football but their strong, direct, physical approach & competitive spirit will cause Manchester United problems.

Manchester United have looked more casual & vulnerable in defensive areas this year & we full expect Stoke City to look to exploit that. The fact that Stoke City now has options up front in Beattie, Fuller & Kitson, all capable of providing a goal threat to go along with those strong in the air such as Faye & Shawcross, is an important fact in their favour.

For Manchester United, this game presents something of a climb down after the excitement & drama of the 4-3 win over Manchester City, so the attitude of the Manchester United players will be key in this game.

Alex Ferguson will be fully aware of the strengths of Stoke City and that Manchester United will have to eradicate all of the defensive mistakes that enabled Manchester City to score 2 of their 3 goals on Sunday.

Key for Manchester United will be how they cope defensively against the aerial threat of Stoke City & particularly Ben Foster who has looked nervous in goal in recent games.

Many people will view this as a certain away victory, but Stoke city are strong at home & their record here against the big teams is not that bad; none of the big 4 have found it comfortable playing at the Britannia Stadium & we believe there is betting value to believe that can happen again here.

Stoke City players & fans will be up for this match & will take heart from what Burnley did at home against United & our view is that Stoke City certainly have the capacity to make life tough for Manchester United in this game.

We were tempted by the odds for a Stoke City win, but it is hard to totally oppose Manchester United given their excellent form & so we are going to take a punt on Stoke City having enough to fight for a draw at value odds.

Betting Recommendations:

Outright Match Betting: Draw

Correct score options: 1-1/2-2

First goalscorer each way/Player to score anytime: Fuller/Kitson/Shawcross

Scorecast options: Fuller/Kitson/Shawcross score 1st & 1-1/2-2

Double Result: Stoke City Half Time & Draw Full Time

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