Andy's Sunday tips - Man Utd to win again
We'll see what sort of shape this Newcastle class of 2010 is in with a home tie against Villa, whilst the Magpies' conquerors from Monday night go to Craven Cottage looking to settle old scores....
Newcastle v Aston Villa
Having to travel to Old Trafford first up is always tough for a newly-promoted side but you have to take positives out of football matches and Newcastle can look back at that match and just accept that the hosts were outstanding and would have beaten virtually any other team in the world playing like that. Besides, they've now got one of the toughest fixtures in football out of the way and can focus on getting something from a far more winnable one.
This is a decent Newcastle squad, or at least it's better than that of the other two newly-promoted teams, but they'll need their experienced men like Kevin Nolan and Joey Barton to lead by example. You can't expect the likes of Andy Carroll, who is relatively new to this league, to start winning matches by himself, or at least not this early on in the season, so the guys who know what this league is all about are the ones who need to stand up and be counted.
It's been a lively couple of weeks at Villa Park. The departure of Martin O'Neill was followed by a 3-0 win over West Ham, which was followed by the sale of James Milner, and arrival of Stephen Ireland. As things stand Kevin MacDonald is the man in charge and it was nice to see midweek that he has the full support of senior players such as club captain Stiliyan Petrov.
This match is a good example of both teams seeing a share of the points as a decent return for their afternoon's work and my instinct is that's what they'll get.
Recommended Bets:
Back Newcastle/Draw in the half-time/full-time market at [18.0]
Back the 1-1 draw at [7.2]
Fulham v Manchester United
If only Fulham could host Manchester United under the same circumstances as they did last time round, which resulted in a win for the hosts. Virtually the whole of the away defence was out injured and a makeshift back three featured Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher. No such luck for the Cottagers this time round and if they're to repeat last year's heroics, this time they're going to have to do so against a full-strength side.
People will talk about Paul Scholes' virtuoso performance on Monday night but there were plenty of other positives to take from the match if you're a Manchester United fan. The fitness levels of the players was high, they defended well as a unit and Dimitar Berbatov looked sharp and up for it. Wayne Rooney and Patrice Evra were probably the two players who didn't look 100% but then again they were heavily involved in the World Cup, so it will take a while to get back to where they want to be.
Wayne has said that the best way of getting back to full fitness is to get minutes under his belt and play games. He played an hour against Newcastle and he'll get at least that once again, if not more. The former Everton man is still their key player and he needs to be at his best if they are going to wrestle the title away from Chelsea.
All in all, the visitors should have too much for a Fulham side who got a decent, albeit scrappy, draw away at Bolton, but may need a little time to settle under a new manager before they start winning matches against opponents as fearsome as this.
Recommended Bets:
Back Fulham/Man Utd in the half-time/full-time market at [30.0]
Back Man Utd to win 2-1 at [9.0]
Back Wayne Rooney to score at [2.2]
Andy Gray is now on Twitter so follow him for his exclusive tips and his take on the biggest stories in football each week.
Published: 21 Aug 2010
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