Premier League / Richard Walker / 16 October 2008 / 1 Comments

Richard Walker tells us why those expecting the floodgates to open in a convincing Man Utd win will end up disappointed. With most of Man Utd's players involved in midweek international action, this one could be close.

Eighth host ninth at Old Trafford in front of the Setanta cameras on Saturday afternoon - and while Man United have been noted for their sluggish starts of recent seasons, a top-half position early on is probably more than Tony Mowbray might have expected for his Baggies just now.

What with the European Super Cup and international matches, this is just the third home Premier League fixture for Fergie's boys and they won't need reminding that they're going to have to better than a sluggish 1-1 draw with Newcastle and a referee-assisted 2-0 defeat of Bolton.

Albion, for their part, sport an away record including a 1-0 loss at Arsenal, a goalless draw at Bolton and a 1-0 win at Middlesbrough. Evidence enough that Mowbray has effected an important change of style from last season's gung-ho Championship crowd-pleasers - with goals going in regularly at both ends - into something like credible Premier League opposition, who can boast that they haven't yet been beaten by more than a single goal in any of their league defeats.

And while I never make any secret that I'm not particularly one for trends and stats, I can see West Brom's more sure-footed approach and United's slightly spluttering form combine to make this a really intriguing encounter.

A single-goal margin of victory for United is where I've come down - but with no certainty as to whether that'll be 1-0 - around [8.4] to back - or the [11.5] odds of 2-1. That also leads me to duck out of a firm suggestion in the Over/Under 2.5 goals market. Overs is [1.64] and Unders [2.48] - take your pick.

Given the number of players on international duty for the Red Devils, I can see it taking them a while to warm to the task of breaking down the visitors. So Draw/Man Utd, in the Half-Time/Full-Time options, has to be worthy of some consideration, priced as it is at [5.0] to back. Man Utd/Man Utd is a somewhat prohibitive - in my opinion - [1.66] to back.

And you'll be no richer via the Match Odds. United here are [1.21] to back - and, do you know, if they came in much shorter pre-kick off, say like [1.10], that might tempt some of the low-risk layers amongst you to get involved.

In terms of a First Goalscorer, well it'd never surprise me to see Fergie rest Wayne Rooney to the bench, as he'd have returned to Manchester some time mid-Thursday from his Belarus double. I think it might be the craft of Carlos Tevez to open things up, at about the [6.5] mark when the market develops. Three from four Premier League starts means that I feel you should have a small cover on Albion's in-form Roman Bednar, perhaps as a To Score (at any time) option - around [6.0] most likely.