It's going to be a tall order on Saturday for Norwich City to muster anything on the road against Manchester United. The Canaries though, have to be a little confident knowing that Man U has really struggled offensively all campaign long, particularly here at home with just nine goals in seven matches.
Soccer Odds at BookMaker.eu
Manchester United -260
Norwich City +600
Draw +330
Over/Under 2.5 (over -115)
ODDS ANALYSIS
Normally speaking, when you see a team favored by a goal and a half on the Asian Handicap, you see a total of 3 on the board. However, in this case, with United allowing a total of just one goal this year at home, the total of 2.5 is all that really can hit the board. A 2-0 result is the most likely one for sure for the Red Devils, though 1-0 is also very possible.
Man U is giving -260 on the moneyline, a number which has to be tempting considering how poor Norwich has been historically against the top team in the Premier League on the road.
KEY INJURIES
The Red Devils continue to have major injury issues. Wayne Rooney figures to not be ready for this match thanks to an ankle problem. We already know that men like Matteo Darmian, Ander Herrera, Jesse Lingard, Marco Rojo, Luke Shaw and Chris Smalling are all out. Now, one of the top playmaking midfielders in the world, Bastian Schweinsteiger is in the midst of a three-match ban for violent conduct against West Ham from earlier in the month.
Norwich is only certainly playing without Matthew Jarvis in this game, but Andre Wisdom came off last week against Everton with a hamstring injury which leaves him up in the air for this match as well.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"It is always like that. It is not new. It is a matter of belief, believe in the manager or not. That is the most important thing. Last year, the fans all showed their belief and that is the most important thing. For me, the most important thing is the commitment of my players to perform as we have agreed, and I can only tell they want to do that." – Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal, who has come under tremendous scrutiny after a loss to Bournemouth last week
RECENT FORM
As we just stated, van Gaal has some explaining to do after last week. Manchester United was beaten by Bournemouth and Wolfsburg last week. The loss to the Germans kicked the Red Devils out of the Champions League, while the loss to Bournemouth moved them to fourth in the table in the Premier League. That's now five straight matches across all competitions without a win for Manchester United, something that is very uncharacteristic.
It was a good news/bad news situation last week for Norwich. The Canaries drew against Everton to get a point, but they fell into the relegation zone at the same time. Norwich has gone four straight matches without a win, though it should be noted that it has played Chelsea and Arsenal in this stretch.
ANALYSIS AND ODDS PREDICTION
The Canaries don't have enough firepower here to score a goal without something fluky happening. That said, we aren't all that sold that Manchester United has enough healthy players to put two on the board.
The end result should be yet another under game for the Red Devils, something we've seen a ton of lately. Maybe Man U notches a goal to get the three points and to take some of the pressure off of van Gaal, but asking for more than one total goal over these 90 minutes is a lot.
Manchester United 1, Norwich City 0
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