Norwich City vs. Manchester United

Barclays Premier League

Football
Published: 20/02/2012

Manchester United will be out to keep the heat on fellow Premier League title challengers Manchester City when they make the tricky visit to Carrow Road on Sunday February 26 to face Norwich City.

With their rivals hosting relegation candidates Blackburn Rovers in the same round of top flight fixtures, United undoubtedly have to bank all three points to prevent losing ground on Roberto Mancini’s side who currently hold a slender two point lead over them heading into March.

But Norwich are unlikely to go down without a fight, judging at least by their impressive home form in the Premier League so far this campaign.

Paul Lambert’s side have consistently managed to perform well at Carrow Road – and the nineteen points they have picked up thus far at home have been crucial towards anchoring their safe mid table position.

United’s task, therefore, could be made even more difficult as Norwich have the licence to play with freedom, as both relegation and European qualification are extreme longshots.

The Red Devils have, however, been extremely strong on the road for the majority of the season and with only one defeat in twelve games they easily have the best travelling record in the league.

A recent win over Arsenal at the Emirates and a stunning fight back to draw with Chelsea 3-3 at Stamford Bridge has given Alex Ferguson’s side a huge injection of confidence having suffered briefly at the turn of the year on the back of their Champion League demise.

United turned in a solid and professional performance to defeat Ajax 0-2 in their last match and there are signs suggesting that the defending champions are playing their way into top form.

Although Norwich are a formidable outfit on their own turf, a massive improvement will still be needed from the Canaries if they are to compete with their opponents over the duration of ninety minutes and ultimately prevent them from keeping their title challenge on track.

With the United juggernaut beginning to gather pace and leading man Wayne Rooney starting to shine, the visitors can prove their class and overcome Norwich who should, nonetheless, give an excellent account of themselves and contribute towards an entertaining affair.

United’s pre-match odds of 4/7 indeed reflect the chances of a team very much in form and this is enhanced by the fact that other top sides have been around the 4/6 mark to win at Carrow Road earlier in the season.

On balance, this is probably still worth taking as United will be more than adamant to avoid a potential slip up.

But with Norwich more than capable of giving their opponents a fright, searching a few correct score lines involving a Norwich goal could pay dividends.

1-3 and 2-3 outcomes are 11/1 and 22/1 respectively and will not be far off the mark come the final whistle. The aforementioned Rooney just cannot be ignored for the first goal in an open looking contest and the 7/2 about his chances also appear to be more than generous.

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Any odds displayed within this article were correct at the time of publishing (20/02/2012) but are subject to change.

20/02/2012     © Frixo 2024

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