MANCHESTER UNITED face Aston Villa aiming to continue their fine start to the Premier League campaign on Saturday lunchtime.
Ole Gunnar Solksjaer has come in for plenty stick after a dismal Champions League loss in Switzerland to Young Boys, but they have started the season well in the league, which is surely their priority, and have accumulated four wins and a draw in their opening five matches.
That included a come-from-behind win at West Ham last weekend where they carried their fair share of luck after that last gasp Mark Noble penalty miss.
They face a Villa side who have lacked consistency after two wins, two defeats and a draw in their opening five fixtures. They looked impressive last week when thumping Everton at home.
Both sides were in Carabao Cup action this week, although both United and Villa had much-changed line-ups as United got bundled out of the cup at home to West Ham and Villa held Chelsea to a draw at Stamford Bridge, but lost out on penalties.
How the bookies view it
United are always going to be clear and obvious favourites, but the 4/9 offered up by SBK is perhaps not as short as you might expect.
Villa can be backed at 13/2 with Betfred and the draw is 4/1 with William Hill.
Recent head to head
United did the double on Villa last season with a 3-1 win in Birmingham in May as seen below and they also triumphed 2-1 at Old Trafford on New Year's Day.
Villa have an appalling record against United – you need to go back 11 years and 18 games since they were last victorious in this fixture in all competitions.
Players to watch
No question who the punters will want here – Cristiano Ronaldo hasn't disappointed since his sensational return to Old Trafford and he's all the rage here at 7/10 to score anytime with BetVictor.
Leon Baily scored his first goal for Villa last week and should be in line for a start now. He's 9/2 with 888Sport to net anytime in Manchester.
Anything else catch the eye?
United have managed to keep just on clean sheet this season and they were very lucky to do that at Wolves. It's a sign that there is plenty of work required for them defensively.
Villa are a team who certainly won't sit back and, in a comparable fixture where they lost 3-0 at Chelsea, they were far better than that and really could and should have scored at least once if now a couple of goals. That was the only time they have failed to score this season.
Villa are around 4/7 to score, but that rises to 5/6 for them to score before the 77th minute with bet365.
Paul Pogba has been booked three times already this season and was involved in a stramash with West Ham fans too last week. He's a tempestuous chap and the 15/4 with Unibet for an anytime booking appeals.
This English Premier League match between Manchester United and Aston Villa will be played on Sep 25, 2021 and kick off at 12:30. Check below for our tipsters best Manchester United vs Aston Villa prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.