Premier League betting tip: Southampton - Manchester United
Aug 22, 2021
Premier League: Southampton - Manchester United
I opposed Saints for their trip to Everton last weekend ........
However, Saints are not in a good place, they were never in relegation trouble last season as they started their campaign so well, but they picked up just 23 goals and 20 points from their last 26 games, which is bottom three level and collected only 32.5% of their points in the second half of the campaign, picking up just 0.736 ppg. Goals are a real concern, they scored 47 which sounds ok, but their xG of 1.24 is low and they have lost Danny Ings who scored 34 in the last two seasons, but was so much more to the team, leading from the front and setting an example to team mates. He has been replaced by Adam Armstrong who was prolific in the Championship last season, but he never made it in the top flight at his previous attempt, has only been at the club for three days and missed much of pre-season with this move in the offering. Defensively they are even more of a concern and the 68 goals given up was far more than relegated Fulham and Sheffield United and second only to WBA. Second half game numbers were terrible, they shipped a league joint high 38 goals after the break and sometimes ran out of steam/ideas when their often hard press didn't work.
They did score and that goal came from Armstrong , but via a defensive error and not through anything that Southampton created, which was very little at all.
United looked imperious in beating Leeds United 5-1 and only looked in trouble for about 5 minutes at the start of the second half, ahead of which I had written ............
Manchester United and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who has never won a trophy as a coach, need to step up this season. Second place is a great platform to build from, but Liverpool and Chelsea will be stronger for sure and the Reds will have to repeat as a minimum, having signed Jadon Sancho and Rafael Varane for big fees. They were only 4th for xP last season and looked vulnerable defensively at times, especially when they tried to play more expansively. They showed terrific heart ,coming from behind time and time again, but you wonder how long that can continue and it has to be addressed. Plenty of positives from last season, but they were definitely 4th best and way behind the other top 3 in terms of xGD, between 0.4 (Chelsea and Liverpool) and 0.8 (City) pg.
But it was very hard not to be impressed last week and perhaps even more so by their options, with Sancho and Martial on the bench and Cavani, Rashford, Varane and Lingard not available and OGS is going to have to make some really tough selection decisions today. United have struggled at times with teams who sit deep and Saints might opt to do that, but the hosts are better when they press high and conceded 12 (!) in two starts against the Reds last season and United are a stronger group now and Southampton weaker and in worse form !
2 units Manchester United -1.25 ball 2.30 asian line.
Good luck !
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