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Struggling United will hope to get some rhythm and form on Old Trafford against Sociedad in a contest between the 1st and last placed teams in Champions League group A.
Yes, Manchester has not been great so far, but a period of transition was expected after Sir Alex Ferguson`s departure. If you look closely United hasn`t been playing to bad either. They are on the back of a 1-1 draw against red-hot Southampton after being equalized in the 90`th minute and prior to that they won 2-1 at Sunderland thanks to a brace from wonderkid Januzaj. The youngster has been on of the bright spots for United this season, along with Wayne Rooney who is again performing like his old self. While United is 8th in the Premier League with 11 points in 8 matches, they did have to play a lot of tough games (Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool) and have pretty much completed the job in more accesible encounters. In Champions League Manchester United has played great so far, a 4-2 home win against Leverkusen and a rather unlucky 1-1 away draw in Ukraine at Shakhtar Donetk.
Real Sociedad achieved a surprising 4th place finish in Spain last season and they got past Lyon in the Champions League playoffs to reach the group stages. However, the spanish side looks to be far worse than last year. The visitors are on a lowly 12th spot in La Liga, having to endure an 8 game winless streak until finally beating Valencia over the weekend. Sociedad`s performance last year seems to have been more of a fluke, as the team looks really bad this year. In Champions League they seemed to be out of their league so far, 2 clear defeats at the hands of Shakhtar (0-2 at home) and Leverkusen (1-2 away, Bayer missing a lot of chances).
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Team news & lineups
David Moyes will be happy to mostly have a clean bill of health for today`s encounter, excluding Cleverley. On the other hand Vidic, Ferdinand and Wellbeck are questionable, with the first two having a bigger chance of playing. Real Sociedad misses Granero and Estrada.
Man Utd (4-2-3-1): De Gea – Rafael, Vidic, Jones, Evra – Carrick, Fellaini – Valencia, Rooney, Nani – Van Persie
Sociedad (4-4-1-1): Bravo – C Martinez, Gonzalez, I Martinez, De La Bella – Vela, Bergara, Pardo, Griezmann – Zurutuza – Agirretxe
United tends to be underestimated these days, and in Champions League against a team like Sociedad they have to be considered what is called a “banker”, though I do not like the term as it implies a pick as being a sure thing (which is non-existent). However, the Devils need a win after drawing against Shakhtar and they will surely want to bounce back in front of their own fans after the weekend draw with Southampton. The two teams have performed completely different against Leverkusen and Shakhtar, with United showing they are still a top-class team in Europe while Socieadad just seemed not-cut for this level. The visitors do not have any match-up or form advantages up their sleeve for today, so I can`t see how they could come up with something on such a tough ground as Old Trafford. Rooney and Van Persie should do the job up front against a Sociedad defense that conceded in each of the last 5 games. My pick is that United will win this comfortably, covering the 1 goal spread in the process. Pinny has some very nice odds for a -1,25 asian handicap on the Devils.
Prediction: Manchester United – Real Sociedad 3-0, after a dominant home performance by the english side to consolidate the 1st place in the group. Expect Wayne Rooney to be on the scoresheet yet again and star-kid Januzaj to make an impact in the second half.
Pick: Manchester United (-1,25 Asian Handicap)
Odds: 2.21 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 9.68
Event date: 23 October
Editor Facts
- Rostick is 3 for 4 in tips involving Manchester United this season
- Rostick is 4 for 4 in Champions League in October
