Mour grind from United
I WOULD rate Manchester United’s title chances about as likely as Paul Scholes saying something nice about Jose Mourinho.
The Old Trafford side’s current odds of 200-1 are still generous and at 9-2 just to finish in the top four, I’ll be keeping my money in my pocket.
Manchester City and Liverpool are nailed on for first and second while Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal have their acts together in a way that leaves Manchester United trailing in their wake.
Jose’s embattled squad always seem just one defeat from crisis and will look to grind out another result today to take Manchester United’s undefeated league run against Crystal Palace to 19 games.
Time for Roy Hodgson to change that dismal record? No, it is not. Romeu Lukaku has scored six in his last eight appearances against Palace but only time will tell whether he will get the chance from the start or from the bench to make it seven goals. It is just the one clean sheet for David De Gea and defensively United have been awful so both teams to score and United to win is 11-5.
On a positive note, the new £120,000-a-week contract for Chris Smalling should have boosted his confidence.
Talking of new contracts, Watford’s Javi Gracia has agreed to extend his stay at Vicarage Road until the end of the
2020-21 season.
It was in this fixture last year that his decision to go with a back three backfired and the result was an avalanche of goals against.
That 5-0 win for Liverpool made it 8-3 on aggregate last season and there has never been a Premier League goalless draw between these two in 22 games and it’s sure to be extended too 23 here.
Goals will be harder to come by for Watford and Liverpool are 6-4 to win to nil.
With only two goals so far, Roberto Firmino has double that amount against Watford since arriving in England and he’s my pick to score Liverpool’s early goal at
5-1 first scorer and the first strike to be in the first 15 minutes is 15-8.
Everton, Manchester United, Liverpool, Leicester and Manchester City all to win is 11-1.