* All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.
The first Saturday evening match of the 2021/22 run-in sees a clash of two teams who are in very strange form. Manchester United were beaten in just one of their first 20 matches following the dismissal of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer but have lost two of their last three.
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Meanwhile, Leicester City have won three of their last four Premier League matches, which is good, but have lost five of the last six away from home, which is not. And while Brendan Rodgers’ boys are rightly underdogs for this match – only three teams in the division have won fewer away games this season – they have beaten United the last three times the sides have met and drew the clash prior to that.
Manchester United v Leicester, Saturday April 2, 5.30pm
TV: Sky Sports Premier League/ Main Event
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Handicap betting: Manchester United -1
It’s easy to parse some important information from the two teams’ recent form. United may have lost twice recently but those defeats came at Manchester City and against everyone’s favourite/least favourite s**thouses, Atletico Madrid. Far better teams than the present Red Devils have come unstuck in matches like those.
There are also the relative records of these teams to consider. The Red Devils have played eight league matches at Old Trafford against sides who go into the weekend below Leicester in the table, and they’ve won five and drawn three of them. Similarly, the Foxes’ three away victories have come against clubs currently in the bottom six and when travelling to play teams who are above them in the table at present, they’ve lost every time and have accumulated a -12 goal difference.
With United as erratic and flaky as they are, it wouldn’t surprise anyone if Leicester turned up on Saturday and won. But there’s little in their record this season to suggest they can, and they also have the far lengthier injury list of the two sides. Rangnick’s team can start their unlikely top four quest by winning by at least two goals.
Both teams to score – Yes
As this match is a Harry Maguire derby, there can’t be much chance of a clean sheet from either side, can there? Certainly not from Leicester, whose only shut out on the road occurred at Burnley at the start of last month. Even then the Clarets had two clear-cut chances so could easily have got on the score sheet.
Only Leeds’ away matches have averaged more goals than the Foxes’ in 2021/22, and across the last three seasons, Rodgers’ side have played more Premier League away games in which both teams scored than any other club. With United having only had one clean sheet against a top half side this season, it’s safe to assume that both teams will score here.
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Over 10.5 corners
Set pieces could prove incredibly important in this match, particularly as Leicester have a spectacularly bad record for defending them. Then again, as only Norwich have scored fewer set piece goals than United this season, perhaps not. And we only care about how many corners there are, not what happens with them. Kick them straight into the Stretford End for all we care.
Four of the Foxes’ last five away matches have seen at least 13 corners, and the average has been 14 across that quintet of fixtures. The recent games at Old Trafford haven’t seen as many but no top flight team has had more league matches which paid out on over 10.5 corners than United, so this game should be another example.
Under 2.5 cards
There haven’t been too many bookings in the recent matches between these teams. The last three clashes saw a total of seven yellow cards, and there were only six across the last trio of Manchester meetings. They have contrasting records in the 2021/22 Premier League though – only three clubs have received more bookings than United while only three have had fewer than Leicester.
However, if we also factor in the yellow cards flashed at their collective opponents, we see that both teams have fallen below the 3.5 cards per game average which applies across the division. Andre Marriner’s the man in black for this one and he’s one of the league’s most card averse refs so we should be good for under 2.5 cards.
* All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.
Man Utd v Leicester Bet Builder tips
Handicap betting: Manchester United -1
Both teams to score – Yes
Over 10.5 corners
Under 2.5 cards
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