All eyes will be on Old Trafford on Saturday with Manchester United hosting Premier League rivals Manchester City in what promises to be a fascinating headline act for this round of games.
Citizens Class Can Tell
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has earned some breathing space in the last week as United bounced back from the 5-0 humbling defeat at the hands of arch-rivals Liverpool to see off Tottenham 3-0 before grabbing a last-gasp point in a 2-2 Champions League draw at Atalanta.
On both occasions it was Cristiano Ronaldo who came up big for United, opening the scoring with a wonderful volley at Spurs and he grabbed a brace in midweek too.
Ronaldo was linked with City before he returned to United at the end of the summer transfer window and he is 33/20 to score anytime and 9/2 to notch last which is a habit he has picked up this season, albeit in the Champions League where three times he has bagged the final goal.
However, it is difficult to see Ronaldo getting too much of a look in against a City side who appear to hold all of the aces and are worth backing at 20/27 for derby delight.
City suffered their second league loss of the campaign in a shock 2-0 reverse at the hands of Crystal Palace last time out in the English top flight, but they recovered well to bash Club Brugge 4-1 in the Champions League.
Pep Guardiola’s team have already won at Leicester, Brighton and Chelsea and were the better side in a 2-2 draw at Liverpool too.
City may not have a focal point to their attack, but the midfield runners are so dangerous and United would dearly have loved to have been able to field the injured Raphael Varane to track such tricky opponents.
Fellow United centre-back Victor Lindelof is a doubt and Harry Maguire has not looked too clever since being rushed back from injury and this is a big defensive test for the Red Devils.
Blues Cruise Likely at Stamford Bridge
Chelsea will be hoping City slip up but whatever happens the Premier League leaders can maintain their advantage by seeing off Burnley with the minimum of fuss at Stamford Bridge.
Thomas Tuchel’s team are 1/4 only to win so look to enhance the price by taking them to win to nil at 10/13.
Ten of the Blues’ 11 wins this season have been to nil and they are such a well-oiled defensive machine.
Burnley always battle hard, but generally lack a touch of quality in the final third outside of Maxwell Cornet and the Clarets failed to score in their away defeats at City and Liverpool.
Swoop in for Seagulls
Brentford deserve to be favourites to beat rock-bottom Norwich, however odds of 4/6 are really skinny and it’s difficult to separate Crystal Palace and Wolves at Selhurst Park.
Both are in good form, although the same cannot be said for Newcastle, who could well fall to another defeat, this time at 20/39 shots Brighton.
Get a bit more bang for your buck by taking the Seagulls on the moneyline and under 3.5 goals at 11/10.
A whopping 20 of Brighton’s last 22 wins have come with no more than three goals in total scored.
*All odds correct at time of writing
