COMMUNITY SHIELD SATURDAY: The Striker previews MANCHESTER UNITED v MANCHESTER CITY with a recommended BETDAQ bet from Wembley.
MANCHESTER UNITED V MANCHESTER CITY
3pm We have the annual UK football curtain raiser on Saturday afternoon on BETDAQ Betting Exchange as it’s Community Shield time from Wembley. It feels like Euro 2024 has only finished, but we’re straight into the domestic season and we have a wonderful season ahead. There’s always a debate on the importance of this fixture every season, but it’s always going to be more hyped up than usual when it’s a Manchester Derby. Of course, the last time these two clubs met here Manchester United took home the FA Cup Final. City will want to send a message to start the season naturally, but the reality is this fixture is only a level above a friendly.
It’s a fascinating season ahead for both clubs however. We know what we’re going to get from Man City on the pitch, the big question is what are we going to get off the pitch as the 115 chargers still hang over them. We saw a few points deductions in the Premier League last season, will we see a situation like that with City? The obvious thing to say is that if we don’t see that at some stage, you really have to question whether it’s one rule for the small clubs and another for the big clubs. Interesting times ahead none the less. On the pitch, you’d have to expect another superb season from City and Guardiola – their xG figures were very impressive last season and it’s easy to see why they are favourites to land every competition they are in.
They come into this game as the odds on favourites too. Manchester City are trading 1.6 with Manchester United 5.4 and the draw is 4.9 at the time of writing. To highlight the fact that this is just a friendly, City were trading as short as 1.35 to win the FA Cup Final – Manchester United were 9.6 and we had plenty of happy United backers! United fans seem to have had a tough summer however; no major signings is a massive worry given the state of their squad. Another issue is that they have so many players on big wages it’s hard to get them to leave too; they simply aren’t going to get better wages elsewhere, so you get a situation where they are just running down the clock.
United still have to deal with all the “leftovers” (for want of a better word) from the previous owners. It’s going to take multiple seasons to change things in reality. The big question is; will the fans wait that long? You can easily see Erik ten Hag coming under pressure with a slow start. United were woeful at the back last season with an average xG conceded of 1.73 which was the fourth worst defensive record. That needs to be fixed; obviously they had injuries last season, but you can see them struggling again with the squad they have.
Manchester City finished last season with an average xG created of 2.03, and their average xG conceded was under 1.0 at just 0.93 too. It’s hard to fault them to be honest, and the 1.6 makes a lot of appeal to start the season. Obviously I’m keen to keep stakes reasonably limited here; it is the opening game of the season after all and it’s always a shrewd move to not have large stakes at the start of any season. There’s a huge gulf in class between the sides however, and with City nearly double the price of the FA Cup Final it’s hard to ignore the 1.6.
The Striker Says:
Two points win Manchester City to beat Manchester United at 1.6 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/FACommS
