Man Utd to continue march to Wembley
As our tips for the Everton match proved, we cannot predict the future. We can assess stats and we can follow hunches but, in the end, we don't know what's going to happen in a game of football any more than you do. Even harder to predict than the future are Sir Alex Ferguson's team selections for big European ties.
In the last round, we anticipated that the manager would go with 4-5-1 for the first leg at Stamford Bridge. Naturally, he went with 4-4-2. But then that's why Sir Alex has won two Champions Leagues and 11 Premier League titles: he sees things that the rest of us don't.
So let's have a humble go at finding some betting angles for tonight's semi-final. Schalke have done extremely well to reach the last four of Europe's premier competition; that's not to belittle them, only to acknowledge that this is the biggest night in their history.
They are [3.9] to reach the final, with the Reds [1.34], but United have been upset by unfancied German opposition at this stage in the past and nobody is taking anything for granted.
We believe in them though. The 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge in the quarter-final epitomised the steeliness that United have acquired this term. Everyone bangs on about how unbeatable Jose Mourinho's teams are but United have surprised opponents this term with their combination of durability and attacking finesse.
You can get [2.32] on an away win this evening and we suggest you take those odds. Schalke's quarter-final victories over Inter featured ten goals combined. That may lead some punters to back overs in these matches but - what with United's excellent defensive record in Europe this term -we're going to back under 1.5 goals at [2.96].
We'll also get behind the clean sheet at [2.66] and 0-1 at [7.6] in the correct score market. That would be a splendid result and give the Reds a healthy platform to build on in next week's second leg. Then again, what would we know?
Published: 26 Apr 2011
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