Manchester United v Otelul Galati
Football : Champions League Match Day 4
Wednesday 2 November 2011 - Kickoff 7:45pm
This game is live on TV

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Manchester United

Sir Alex Ferguson is celebrating 25 years in charge of Manchester United this week and he would dearly like to go into the international break with the Champions League qualification almost guaranteed and another 3 points in the Premier League.

United had been given a fairly straightforward task on paper in this Group Stage of the Champions League, but football is played on grass and they gave themselves a few problems early in the tournament. A 1-1 draw in Benfica is a respectable result, but the 3-3 home draw with Basel left United with a bit of work to do. They did win 0-2 in Romania last time out and now sit 2 points behind Benfica and 1 point clear of Basel in the Group.

The team have won 3 of their last 4 games in all competitions, all coming away from home with the added bonus of clean sheets. The only exception in that time was the embarrassing 1-6 home loss to Manchester City, their first loss at Old Trafford since April 2010. United have won 21 of their last 23 games at home.

Chris Smalling, Ashley Young and Tom Cleverley have all been ruled out and unlikely to play until after the international break. Ryan Giggs and Rafael will also be missing while Nemanja Vidic is suspended after being sent off in Romania. Rio Ferdinand will be back in the line up today, while Sir Alex Ferguson is expecting to make a couple of other changes with Sunderland in mind.

Otelul Galati

Otelul Galati have looked a little overmatched in the Champions League this season, but that had to be expected from a team that had surprised many by simply winning the Romanian top flight last season. While the struggles in this competition were expected, Otelul Galati would have expected to be making a bigger impact in their domestic League where they are 9 points behind leaders Dinamo Bucharest.

This looked a tough test for Otelul when they were drawn with Benfica, United and Basel in the Group and it is not a big surprise that they have lost all 3 Group games so far. That leaves them 4 points off a Europa League consolation berth and it is unlikely they will pick up enough points to get into that competition with away games at Benfica and here at Old Trafford to come.

Since losing 0-2 to United at home, Otelul have won 3 games in a row and they have now lost just 1 of their last 6 games in all competitions. There have been a few inconsistent results for the team away from home where they have won 3 and lost 4 of their last 7 games in all competitions.

Laurentiu Bus is out, but Iaon Filip and Adrian Salageanu are both available.

Head to Head

This will only be the second competitive meeting between the teams.

Prediction

I don't think you need to read a preview of the game for suggestions on who is the more likelier winner and the odds are reflecting that by being incredibly short on United to do so.

You have to believe United will create a number of chances at Old Trafford against an opponent that is clearly not in the same League, but they will want to avoid complacency as anything other than the 3 points could make qualification far more difficult than it should be.

The 'anytime goalscorer' market looks the best way to get involved in this game and I like the look of Danny Welbeck to get on the scoresheet again.

Welbeck is priced up at odds against to do so and I feel that misses the point with a striker who has scored goals here against Tottenham, Arsenal and twice against Basel in this competition.

I expect his performances of late will give him an opportunity to start again, and I expect he will be the most forward player in the team, so the odds against looks reasonable here.

The Statistics :

The Pick :

Manchester United 4-0 Otelul Galati

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

I'll back Danny Welbeck to score anytime @ 2.00 (Stan James)