PREMIER LEAGUE SATURDAY: The Striker previews MANCHESTER UNITED v MANCHESTER CITY, CHELSEA v BRENTFORD and NOTTINGHAM FOREST v ARSENAL all with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
MANCHESTER UNITED V MANCHESTER CITY
12.30pm We have a wonderful Saturday from the Premier League on Betdaq Betting Exchange! We have a hectic day with seven fixtures, but we kick the day off with undoubtedly the highlight of the weekend – the Manchester Derby! It will be absolutely fascinating to see how this United squad performs here with home advantage after the board pulled the trigger and sacked Ruben Amorim. United have been known for years now for just turning up in the big games – they’ve just had Michael Carrick appointed as interim manager until the end of the season and you don’t get many more bigger games than the Derby at home. Surely the players turn up here! However, you have to look at the performance at the weekend against Brighton and feel that some of the players are unhappy with the sacking of Ruben Amorim. Darren Fletcher said afterwards they were fragile and needed confidence – they now face Manchester City and Arsenal within the next few days. Obviously they’ve just broken the record for the least amount of times played this season given they’ve no European football and they exited the domestic Cups so early. One wonders how the situation will go from here.
From the outside looking in, it definitely seems the manager had the dressing room behind him and it was a decision from the fallout with the board. Despite all the drama this season around Amorim, United have the best attacking figure in the Premier League this season – for the first time in years, their performance levels were quite high. They still make mistakes at the back, and they have paid the price for that – with Amorim gone now, you can rip up that progress. It’s no surprise that City come into the game as the favourites at 2.08 with United 3.75 and the draw is 3.9 at the time of writing. I have to say I was expecting to see City trading odds on when I clicked into the market – granted I’m not going to go overboard with stakes here given United do raise their performances for the big teams. They looked all over the place against Burnley and Brighton though since Amorim left – I know results wise the system didn’t pay off, but they were playing good football. They could get torn apart here with a different system. City have had three disappointing draws in a row now, but they can get back to winning ways here. A fascinating game awaits!
The Striker Says:
Three points win Manchester City to beat Manchester United at 2.08 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/PLMuMc
CHELSEA V BRENTFORD
3pm We have five games kicking off at 3pm on Saturday, and in my opinion the most interesting one is Chelsea hosting Brentford. We also have Liverpool in action, but they will be fully expected to beat Burnley at Anfield and are trading red-hot favourites. Another interesting game is Spurs hosting West Ham; surely anything other than a home win there will pile pressure on Thomas Frank. Chelsea are also under pressure though – but they have already hit the change manager button – as if often the case with Chelsea! Liam Rosenior is still new in the job so we won’t judge him yet, but he has his hands full in the Premier League. Chelsea have slipped down to eighth coming into this weekend – they have gone from possible title challengers to missing out on Europe with just one win from their last nine Premier League games. Similar to Manchester United, obviously there was a blow-up behind the scenes, and it will be interesting to see how they perform here. They played Arsenal midweek in the Carabao Cup Semi-Final, lost 3-2 in a very entertaining game but it was a continuation of conceding plenty of goals recently. That has been an issue for Chelsea, and Brentford have been scoring for fun recently too.
This is a game that most Premier League fans will expect Chelsea to win on paper. Even allowing for the fact that Brentford come into this weekend sitting above them in the table – Brentford have been on an incredible run and come into the weekend sitting in fifth! Confidence must be sky high with four wins from their last five and given everyone is dropping points this season; they can dream of a European spot for the time being. They have been banging in the goals for fun too – three against Sunderland, four against Everton and four another Bournemouth recently. Despite Brentford’s form, Chelsea come into the game as the odds on favourites at 1.77 with Brentford 5.0 and the draw is 4.2 at the time of writing. It feels like so long ago now we spoke of Brentford in the relegation battle, but the reality is they have been over-performing recently – I wouldn’t be rushing to lay Chelsea. I do feel this game screams goals, and Over 2.5 goals looks a very nice bet at 1.66 in what should be an open and attacking game.
The Striker Says:
Three points win Over 2.5 goals at 1.66 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/PLClBr
NOTTINGHAM FOREST V ARSENAL
5.30pm We finish Saturday with Nottingham Forest hosting Arsenal. It’s been a superb few weeks for Arteta and Arsenal, and they come into this weekend with a nice six point cushion on Manchester City. Just when it looked like Guardiola and City could put Arsenal under pressure, they have drawn their last three to give Arsenal what looks like an extremely strong position. City could drop points in the Manchester Derby earlier in the day too. For the time being – obviously things happen fast in football – it looks like Arsenal have one hand on the title already. To keep the foot down though, this is the type of fixture that they have to win. Forest have been through a lot this season – already multiple managers – and while they had a nice bounce when Sean Dyche came in, they have struggled lately. They got dumped out of the FA Cup last weekend early – Dyche had a pop at the effort levels afterwards. They had been on a losing run before the West Ham game too – they won that but we can’t read too much into that given the state West Ham have been in this season. At least that win probably put the relegation battle to bed – I can’t see West Ham closing that seven point gap given their performance levels.
It’s no surprise to see Arsenal come into the game as the odds on favourites. Arsenal are trading 1.57 with Nottingham Forest 6.8 and the draw is 4.5 at the time of writing. Ironically from a Forest point of view, they have been playing better football stats wise than when they massively over-performed to get European football last season. That went to the owners head, and expectations have basically ruined this season. Arsenal have been absolutely superb though – they have an average xG created of 1.73 and an average xG conceded of just 0.89. They are title winning performance levels, and that defensive figure is the joint-best in Europe with Bayern Munich. Arsenal have got so much better at grinding out results away from home under Arteta, and the 1.57 looks too big to ignore here. Another option has to be Under 2.5 goals at 2.0 – I actually surprised that Overs is the marginal favourite here. Sean Dyche will surely set his side out to defend here, and we know Arsenal are quite cagey. The Arsenal price is very tempting and I couldn’t put anyone off it, but I do feel the Unders option offers marginally more value. This is a game I’m keen to keep stakes small in.
The Striker Says:
One point win Under 2.5 goals at 2.0 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/PLNoAr
