Stoke City v Man United Betting Tips: Visitors hard to look past at bet365 Stadium

Even though this match involves one of the league’s big clubs in the form of Manchester United, I expect this match, in which they travel Stoke City, to be fairly uninteresting which means there should be a good profit to be made.

After a run of no wins in five matches, two back-to-back victories means that Stoke City have moved up to ninth in the table as they look to once again push for European football.

As mentioned on previous tips concerning the Potters, they have somewhat lost the defensive solidity that they were well known for under previous boss Tony Pulis. This is shown by their ‘Goals Against’ record which reads 33 – the worst of any team in the top-10 and they have kept just one clean sheet in their last five matches. There has been a shift to a more attacking style of play under Mark Hughes but so far their goals return has not been that great having found the back of the net just 27 times – incidentally, this is one fewer than West Bromwich Albion who are of course managed by the aforementioned Pulis.

One thing that has remained though is Stoke’s generally good record and they have lost just once in their last eight Premier League matches at the Bet 365 Stadium, whilst they have kept an impressive three clean sheets in their last four on home soil.

Manchester United had been on a fantastic run of nine back-to-back wins prior to last weekend’s match against rivals Liverpool in which they could only manage a 1-1 draw. However, whilst they could not take all three points, it is important to remember that United have not lost a match in any competition since 3rd November – a run which stretches across 16 matches.

Manager Jose Mourinho is often criticised for playing a boring brand of football but, given their excellent results, you cannot complain too much. Much of this good run has been built on their solid defence which has kept three clean sheets in their last four games whilst they their record of just 20 conceded is the third best in the division. However, just because they are good at the back does not mean they lack an attacking threat and they have registered in all of their matches since a 0-0 draw against Burnley back on 29th October.

Another string to the Red Devils’ bow is their form on the road which has been great in recent weeks with four straight victories, conceding just once and scoring eight.

Although Stoke have looked reasonably sound in their last couple of matches, particularly at home, I think United should have enough to see them off here in what is likely to be quite a dull game. Mourinho’s men have won three of their last four matches on the road by a 2-0 scoreline and it would not surprise me if we saw that repeated here. With the visitors likely to remain solid at the back, before sparking into life a few times at the other end, odds of 15/2 are well worth taking on a 2-0 scoreline favouring United.

If you want something a bit safer, ‘Manchester United to Win to Nil’, at 17/10, is definitely worth a go. As previously mentioned, United’s defence has been excellent of late and it’s quite hard to see this Stoke side, who’ve struggled a bit for goals, breaking them down.

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