Premiership Betting Preview: Arsenal vs Manchester United

This weekend sees the top four Premiership teams clash as Arsenal host Manchester United and Chelsea make the trip to Anfield, home of Liverpool. Manchester United travel to Arsenal on Sunday, 24 hours after Chelsea's clash. The Red Devils have a six point lead going into this weekend at the summit of the Premiership. If Chelsea can collect three points on Merseyside on Saturday then the pressure will shift to Fergie's men.

Arsenal vs Manchester United is often a game full of incident and excitement. The days of Patrick Vieira and Roy Keane turning up to a fight in the hope a game of football might break out are long gone. That doesn't mean we should expect anything less than an action packed encounter! especially as the United are desperate to keep Chelsea at arms length.

Arsenal made the trip to Old Trafford earlier this season and came away with all three points. Manchester United have only lost once since then in the Premiership while Arsenal have struggled. That is, up until lately. Thierry Henry & co. have found some sparkling form in recent games. Producing two huge victories in the FA and League Cup at Anfield. Last weekend, despite playing with ten men for the majority of the game, Arsenal beat Bolton easily, 2-0, at The Reebok Stadium with Henry scoring an outstanding effort to seal the victory.

Arguably, Manchester United have had a run of "easy" matches recently. Outstanding football has been served up at Old Trafford, however and United can only beat the teams put in front of them.

All that makes for a fascinating match up and a feast of betting markets are available for punters.

The outright winner markets are, unsurprisingly, tight. VC Bet make Arsenal the 6/4 favourites with Manchester United at 9/5 and the draw at 21/10. A Manchester United outfit quoted at odds-against is a rare sight indeed. The 9/5 does appear a massive price even taking into account the great form Arsenal are currently in.

Occasionally this game can produce a high number of goals. Therefore, the standard over/under 2.5 goals market should attract some attention. Bet 365 quote 6/5 for over 2.5 goals. However, it may be prudent to wait until the Liverpool vs Chelsea game is over before making your selection here. Should Chelsea win you can expect Manchester United to go all out for the three points. A draw or loss for Chelsea may force Alex Ferguson into a more defensive line-up with the view that a draw is enough.

If, like me, you fancy this game to produce a few goals you might want to take a look at the Anytime Goalscorer market. Thierry Henry and Wayne Rooney are naturally the shortest priced players. Rooney is not scoring on a regular basis right now while Henry is in red hot form. A choice between the two appears easy, Henry to score anytime at 5/4 with VC Bet. Michael Carrick recently got off the mark for his new club. The former Tottenham man would love to score against his old rivals. The 8/1 with VC Bet for Carrick to net at any time looks a big price.

Ed note: For the best prices on this game and for markets on all Premiership matches head over to VC Bet

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