Can Unai Emery guide Aston Villa to another victory over Manchester United? George Gamble picks out his best bets.
Football betting tips: Carabao Cup
2pts Both teams to score - NO at 21/20 (General)
United boss Erik ten Hag was somewhat frustrated with his teams performance at Villa Park at the weekend.
He lamented the way his players were trying to play crosses and final balls far too early and wanted them to wait for “the right moment”.
But they’ll get a chance to put that right straight away here and, while some changes are expected, it seems likely that the United manager will field a relatively strong starting XI.
Kick-off time: 20:00 GMT, Thursday
TV Channel: Sky Sports Main Event
Manchester United 3/5 | Draw 3/1 | Aston Villa 9/2
There is no denying that the appointment of Unai Emery as Aston Villa manager is an exciting one, and he couldn’t have asked for a better opening performance as his side clinched an emphatic victory at home to United.
That said, a visit to Old Trafford in the cup represents another challenge entirely and it seems likely he will set his side up a little differently to the one we saw on Sunday.
Away from home in the league, Aston Villa are averaging the fourth fewest shots per game but the one thing they will hope that Emery can address is their back line and ability to be more compact.
The Villans have already conceded a hefty 21 league goals this campaign and they would love to emulate the organisation of Emery’s former club Villarreal who conceded just seven goals across their 11 opening La Liga games before the coach moved on.
Erik ten Hag has added some steel of his own to his Manchester United backline and they don’t concede too many at Old Trafford.
Despite facing the fifth highest average shots per home match, the Red Devils have only conceded four home goals in total which is the joint-lowest and a testament to their ability to work as a team and limit the number of clear cut chances.
Opportunities could be few and far between here and lots of rotation of players can result in a lack of cohesion and intensity. The price on at least one of these teams failing to score looks very generous and there could easily be an overreaction to the weekends meeting between these two teams.
From a value perspective, BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE - NO looks to be a standout pick for me at 21/20.
Manchester United v Aston Villa best bets and score prediction
- 2pts Both teams to score - NO at 21/20 (General)
Score prediction: Manchester United 2-0 Aston Villa (Sky Bet odds: 13/2)
Odds correct at 0830 GMT (09/11/22)
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