Alan Hansen’s Premier League Preview: Sunderland v Man United

With Chelsea facing a tough trip to Anfield, Manchester United travel to the Stadium of Light for a must-win match with Sunderland. This is viewed by many as the weekend which will decide the destination of the title as both United and Chelsea should comfortably win the final weekend’s home fixtures. On paper Carlo Ancelotti’s team arguably have the toughest test this weekend, however, the Black Cats are in a rich vein of form at home and have already beaten the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham there.

Steve Bruce will not be doing his old club any favours this weekend as he looks to extend Sunderland’s nine-match unbeaten home record in the Premier League. Five of those games may have been drawn but four of the last five matches have resulted in victories. This includes wins over Bolton, Birmingham, Tottenham and Burnley. They’ve scored 13 goals in their last five at home so are scoring plenty of goals with top scorer Darren Bent in great form. Darren has enjoyed an excellent first season up on Wearside and has netted eight of those 13 goals. He has proven his ability against some of the best defences in the Premier League including two against Chelsea and Tottenham plus single strikes against Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United. Whether that is enough for him to get into Fabio Capello’s World Cup squad is questionable but he couldn’t have done much more.

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Manchester United have shown an uncharacteristic weakness on the road this season after losing five of their matches. A record of five wins, three draws and two defeats in the last ten away suggest an away win is no certainty. Defensively, the Red Devils have been very good this season as they’ve conceded less goals on their travels than any other team. Sir Alex’s team have not conceded in their last four away trips in the league with Nemanja Vidic back to his dominating best in front of Edwin van der Sar who has been his usual assured self. The experience of this United team may be key in their performance at the Stadium of Light but after winning late in the last two games against tough opposition, it is hard to see them switching off for this one.

Goal scoring may well be a problem for United with Wayne Rooney expected to be missing again. Dimitar Berbatov has failed to score in his last six matches in all competitions but like champions, United find goals when they need to. Only Blackburn have been able to stop the Red Devils scoring in the last 18 league games and with Sunderland only keeping one clean-sheet in their last eight matches, you have to fancy United to get at least one.

This promises to be a fiercely competitive encounter with United entering the match knowing how the earlier kick-off at the Liverpool v Chelsea game panned out. Despite Sunderland’s impressive recent form, United will be completely focused on the points. Therefore, I am backing an away win on Premier 10 with United recording their fourth consecutive win at the Stadium of Light while Sir Alex builds on his 13-match unbeaten record against his former player Steve Bruce. In the last four weeks there have been three single £30,000 jackpot winners including a Liverpool fan, a Manchester United fan and a Nottingham Forest fan. With another estimated £30,000 jackpot to be won this weekend on Premier 10, who will you back?

Tags: Alan Hansen, Football betting, Football Pools, Man United, online betting, Online pools, Premier 10, Premier League, Sunderland

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