The Round 35 of English Premier League continues on the second day of the weekend with four matches being played. Especially interesting and important match-up for both teams will take place at the legendary Old Trafford between the Manchester United Red Devils and the Swansea City FC Swans. Hosts need the points to stay in the game for first four spots that lead to Champions League next season while the visitors need the points for in their battle for survival. Here, we have prepared for you some in-depth match analysis in order to exploit certain easy bets so let’s take a closer look.
MANCHESTER UNITED vs. SWANSEA CITY
3-Way: 1: Manchester United -208 Home; X: +400 Draw; Swansea City +800 Away
Spread -1: Manchester United -133; Swansea City +127
Total +2.5: Over -106; Under +120
MANCHESTER UNITED
The Manchester United team is riding an 24-games undefeated streak in the English Premier League but they still haven’t secured one of the top four spots that lead to the most prominent soccer club competition in the Europe, the Champions League next season. They currently rank fifth in the English Premier League standings with 64 points in 33 games, one less than Manchester City and two less than Liverpool but they do have one game less played than the Reds and if they manage to emerge victorious form their Sunday match-up against the Swansea City they will surpass their biggest rivals in the English soccer and be one step closer from achieving the goal.
The Red Devils are undefeated in the English Premier league since October 23rd last year (4:0 loss against Chelsea at the Stamford Bridge) and they are undefeated at the Old Trafford since September 10th of last year (1:2 defeat by Manchester City). They are 13-11-0 in the last 24 games but eight of those eleven draws came in front of their own crowd. Team is coming off from a midweek draw at Etihad against the Manchester City Blues (0:0) and they also haven’t conceded a goal in their last four match-ups (scored seven goals).
They are 7-9-1 at home this season with 23-11 goal difference (50-24 overall) and they rank eighth in the home league table with 30 of 51 possible points earned. Team is 1-3-0 in the last four home match-ups and they score 1.35 and concede 0.65 goals per match at the Old Trafford this season (1.52-0.73 overall). 76% of their home games had under 2.5 goals and 88% of their home matches had under 3.5 goals in total while most common result at home is a 1:1 draw (occurred six times). Most common score at half-time is 0:0 (occurred six times).
Zlatan Ibrahimovic tops the team in scoring with 17 goals in the league this season while Juan Mata and Marcus Rashford have six and five in their accounts. Ander Herrera is the teams’ leading assister with six while Ibrahimovic and Anthony Martial have five each. Paul Pogba tops the passing segment with 2139 total passes (first in the league). Goalkeepers David de Gea (32 appearances) and Sergio Romero (one appearance) have 69 saves and 15 games with clean sheets combined.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (ACL Knee), Marcos Rojo (ACL Knee), and James Wilson (ACL Knee) are all out for the season while Timothy Fosu-Mensah (Dislocated Shoulder) is listed us unavailable for Sunday’s game with unspecified date of return. Phil Jones (Toe), Chris Smalling (Knee) and Juan Mata (Groin/Pelvis) are expected to be out until at least May 14th.
SWANSEA CITY
The Swansea City team is in the relegation zone four rounds before the end of the season and things are not looking well as they are visiting Old Trafford this Sunday. They are coming off from a home win against the Stoke City (2:0) but they are still two points behind the spot that secures the English Premier League soccer next season (they currently rank 18th with 31 points in 34 matches).
The Swans are 2-1-5 in the last eight games and 0-0-4 in the last four away matches. Overall record on the road this season is 3-1-13 and the most recent away win occurred three months ago at Anfield (2:3 against Liverpool). They’ve lost last six road games and they’ve conceded at least one goal in each of their last 16 away matches. Goal difference on the road is 15-35 (39-68 overall) and they rank 17th in the road league table with 10 of 51 possible points earned.
Team scores 0.88 and concedes 2.06 goals on the road this season (1.15-2.00 overall) and 65% of their road matches had over 2.5 goals while 35% of their away games had over 3.5 goals in total. Most common results on the road are 3:1, 2:1 and 1:0 losses (all occurred three times) while most common scores on the road at half-time were 1:0 trail and 0:0 (both occurred five times).
Fernando Llorente leads the team in scoring this season with 12 goals while Gylfi Sigurdson has eight in his account. Sigurdson is also team’s leading assister with 12 assists (tops the league), while passing segment belongs to Jack Cork and Kyle Naughton who collected 1271 and 1215 total passes so far. Goalie Lukasz Fabianski (34 appearances) collected 106 saves and he also has six games with clean sheets so far.
Nathan Dyer (Achilles) is a major doubt with unspecified date of return while Angel Rangel will be out until at least June 1st. Jack Cork (Ankle), Martin Olsson (Hamstring) and Leroy Fer (Dead leg) are expected to be available in late April while Wayne Routledge (Hernia) will be back after May 21st.
Manchester United vs. Swansea City – Match Prediction
Both teams need points on Sunday and with only four round left to be played in the English Premier League, each point will count. The Swans will have a tough task securing the top flight play next season, but could see some luck in the following rounds as they play two games at home (Everton and West Brom) while visiting the bottom ranked Sunderland.
With that being said, the Manchester United FC is a clear favorite but big number off home draws this season does make us nervous. Nevertheless, having in mind their tough remaining schedule I’m sure that they’ll do anything to emerge victorious here. Also I think it’s finally time for at least three goals performance by the hosts side at the Old Trafford and they are certainly able to do that against the weak Swansea Team. Despite the fact that the Red Devils will play without their top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic, I think that they still posses enough firepower to score two or three goals. Therefore, I am going to gamble on this one and pick the over.
My pick: Over 2.5 goals (-106)
