Sir Alex Ferguson was getting more and more agitated on the touchline on Monday night before Antonio Valencia capped a fine evening’s work with an excellent finish. United moved five points clear with the win and they now have an opportunity to put further daylight between themselves and their noisy neighbours.
QPR visit Old Trafford on Sunday lunchtime and I cannot see any way that Mark Hughes’ lot can do Man City a favour. Even though it took until the 81st minute to get the breakthrough at Ewood Park it was the type of performance that we’ve come to expect from United on the home stretch.
It’s seven straight victories for United and they know just how much pressure they can put on City with an eight point lead before the game at the Emirates.
The visitors are outside the relegation places on goal difference and they’ve shown enough in the past few games to suggest they can beat the drop. Rangers ended the Gunners’ six game winning streak and they also beat Liverpool, but away results have been hard to come by. United are in relentless mood and they should be far more clinical at home after almost gifting Fulham a point in their last home fixture.
You get the feeling that Manchester City have to get a result at the Emirates or face up to the fact that a 20th league title is heading to Old Trafford. City were minutes away from losing to Sunderland at home and you could see the pressure getting to the players as they dropped their first league points at the Etihad.
It’s all well and good winning at home, but City have to start winning on the road. Roberto Mancini has seen his side lose a healthy lead at the top with most of the damage being done with disjointed away performances.
Even though Arsenal’s run of wins came to end at Loftus Road they remain in superb form in North London. Over the past few weeks the Gunners have looked so much better at the back, but Arsene Wenger will be worried with what he saw last weekend. There’s now only goal difference between themselves and Spurs, so this is a massive one for them as well.
City have already beaten Arsenal twice, but the Gunners are a very different side from then. The draw looks the most likely outcome and that’s not really going to help either manager.
Betting on BETDAQ – Alan’s Punts:
Man Utd v QPR: Back Man Utd with -2 Asian handicap at 1.99
Arsenal v Man City: Back the draw at 3.55
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