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The thought of Manchester United setting up for a draw on their own patch is enough to make the solid bronze statue of Bobby Charlton, George Best and Denis Law shiver and Sir Alex Ferguson splutter on his expensive red wine - but would it be that big a surprise to anyone who’s watched them over the past couple of weeks if they did?
Tottenham have a miserable record at Old Trafford, 20 defeats in 25 Premier League trips and just two wins, but they may just fancy their chances of making a successful raid on visit No 26.
United followed the bore draw at Liverpool with a defeat at Huddersfield, managing only four shots on target and one goal over 180 minutes, while Spurs have faced the same opponents in two of their last three games, putting four goals past the pair of them.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side are 14/5 with United 13/10 and the draw available at 5/2.
They had mixed fortunes in midweek but with both teams making seven changes to their starting line-ups it’s not the best idea to read too much into Carabao Cup results (unless your name is Slaven Bilic).
Harry Kane was one of Spurs’ changes, he was left out of the defeat by the Hammers after limping off last weekend and he hasn’t recovered from his hamstring injury in time for this one. He’ll have to wait to add to his tally of 29 Premier League goals in 2017.
United are yet to let in a goal at home this term and Mourinho’s chances of getting the clean sheet he craves increased with the news Kane is sidelined. A 1-0 United win is 7/1.
Romelu Lukaku, one off Kane in the scoring charts and second-favourite behind him for the Golden Boot, is 11/8 to score and 7/2 to break the deadlock. But his goalless run is now four games, although he was only given a quarter of Tuesday’s win over Swansea, and against the big six his return is 15 goals from 58 outings.
A half-time draw in this one is worth backing at 11/10.
In the 3pm games Halloween arrives at the Emirates a few days early when Arsenal’s bogey men turn up.
Swansea usually score in this corner of north London, they’ve drawn a blank just once in eight games there, and have won three times. The only visiting side with a better record is Chelsea on four wins.
With this in mind and the fact that as impressive as Arsenal were last weekend, Everton still managed to score twice, a home win with both teams scoring is 7/4. Arsenal are as short as 1/5 just for the points.
Liverpool are just as skinny at home to Huddersfield, who are 14/1 to beat a big gun for the second week in a row.
Huddersfield were in freefall before stunning United last week and will be buoyed by that result but Liverpool, after a rocket from Jurgen Klopp, should be backed. Their defence, or lack of it, has been mentioned in these pages in previous weeks (although it’s much worse away from home) so, like Arsenal, back them to win with both teams scoring. You can get 2/1.
For the league leaders, it’s a trip to West Bromwich Albion and while City will stutter at some point before May, it’s unlikely to be The Hawthorns on Saturday.
For a start, they’ll be using a Premier League ball, not one of those nasty Carabao Cup Mitres, and Pep Guardiola likes them - he’s watched them ripple opposition nets 32 times in eight games.
The Baggies have only conceded three at home but their visitors so far - Bournemouth, Stoke, West Ham and Watford - are hardly the Premier League’s Harlem Globetrotters. City have been there on Carabao Cup duty and won 2-1. They’re 15/8 to win this one with both teams scoring, 3/10 just for the points.
As for the defending champions, even the Chelsea fans at Sportsmail HQ had doubts ahead of the Watford clash last week but a 4-2 win followed by 2-1 victory over Everton in the Carabao Cup and they’re happy again. They should still be smiling on Saturday night. Two of the Blues’ last three games have had six goals apiece – they drew 3-3 with Roma before seeing off Watford – and while we might not get quite as many on the south coast, 11/4 for an away win with over 3.5 goals in the match has some appeal.
Crystal Palace are back to being Crystal Palace, losing twice since shocking Chelsea and they play West Ham this week. Whether that’s the West Ham that won at Tottenham in the Carabao Cup or the one that went down at home to Brighton, who knows. A draw in this one sounds about right while Watford can edge past Stoke.
It’s the manager-sackers derby on Sunday as Leicester host Everton and we’ll be on Claude Puel to get off to a winning start. There’s also Brighton against Southampton while Burnley at home to Newcastle is on Monday night.
Sean Dyche should still be in charge of the Clarets by then but talk of the Everton job must be a bit unsettling for a team who have only scored twice in five home games. Newcastle are the value bet at 17/10.
*Prices from oddschecker, correct at time of publication, subject to change
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