Lee Dixon: Van Persie to score as United beat Arsenal

Man in the middle - Lee is backing RVP to score

Nobody would love to see the Gunners take three points at Old Trafford more than Betfair Ambassador Lee Dixon. When it comes to betting, however, our man puts head before heart and profit before pride... 

Saturday's match between Manchester United and Arsenal is a mouthwatering prospect but, without wanting to dampen your appetite, let me just say that, as a player, I did not like lunchtime kick-offs. Today's Premier League stars are adaptable - they could play at 3am if the TV cameras needed them to - but, boy oh boy, did I hate tucking in to boiled chicken and pasta at eight o'clock in the morning.  Ugh.  By half-time, I was starving. 

Now, let's get down to business. The emergence of Manchester City and Chelsea means there's less at stake in these north London v north west ding-dongs than there was in my day. Back then, the animosity between Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson verged on hatred. Now there's a healthy respect. 

Still, the Opta stats make grim reading for Gunners fans: Arsenal have lost seven of their last eight at Old Trafford in all competitions. I've been on the end of some hidings up there but I've also enjoyed glory too.  When Wenger's men have prospered at Old Trafford - drawing 0-0 in 2009, winning 1-0 in 2006 - they have kept clean sheets. I'm afraid, however, that I don't trust this defence to keep out Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie. Will the Dutchman score against his old team? Yes.

United are lethal. They can come flying out of the blocks, as they did against Chelsea, or they can bide their time, but they play with the assurance of a side that know they have goals in them. Arsenal always look like they're about to crumble, as they did at home to Chelsea. 

Up front Arsenal are a touch insipid too. Against QPR last weekend, I couldn't see where the goals were going to come from and they grew anxious as the game went on. They were lucky to win through Mikel Arteta's late goal but QPR had two late chances and could have stolen all three points.

I know United's defence is vulnerable but I think they can contain Lukas Podolski and Oliver Giroud. That said, Patrice Evra is not the player he used to be and if Theo Walcott, buoyed by his midweek hat-trick against Reading, can rattle him then the Gunners have a chance. However, it's worth noting their poor goals record at Old Trafford: last season's 8-2 defeat was the only time they've scored more than one in a Premier League game in United's backyard.

If Arsenal lose, they will be nine points behind United. You don't need to remind me that they have overhauled bigger deficits but I do feel that if they lose on Saturday they will be pretty much out of the title race. Sadly, I think there's lots of work to be done in defence and, while I don't expect a scoreline to compare with last year's massacre, I'm pretty certain United will win.

Recommended Bets
Back Manchester United @ 1.738/11
Back Robin van Persie to score 

The Tactical View: Michael Cox

The key battle in this match is surely down Manchester United’s right. That’s where they dominated the first 15 minutes of last weekend’s victory at Stamford Bridge, with Rafael da Silva storming forward past Eden Hazard to join Antonio Valencia, and overload Ashley Cole.

Arsene Wenger has suggested that Kieran Gibbs won’t be fit to start at Old Trafford, leaving Andre Santos as Arsenal’s likely left-back. He struggled in the 2-0 defeat at home to Schalke when against Jefferson Farfan, and Valencia is a similar player – a proper old-fashioned winger that charges down the outside. I think Santos could really struggle, so I’ll back him to be booked at [3.5].

The Betfair Trader's View: Alan Thompson

I agree with Lee that Manchester United will win this massive game. They are the leading scorers in the Premier League with 24 goals from their nine opening fixtures. Thirteen of them have come at Old Trafford where they have scored at least twice in their four home games and all those games returned over 3.5 goals. 

By contrast though, Arsenal have only conceded three away goals (joint lowest with Chelsea) and their five away games have only produced nine goals in total (four in the West Ham game). Arsenal in away games are averaging 1.2 goals per game and in my opinion they need to score twice to get anything out of this. On current form, I’m not convinced they can do that. 

I am backing Man Utd -1 at [2.25] in the Asian Handicap market rather than the 1.7 match odds. As long as United win the game then the worst case scenario is a “scratch” bet, but it returns a nice profit should they win by two or more.