MANCHESTER UNITED travel to Norwich for an FA Cup quarter-final showdown on Saturday evening. Daniel McCulloch (@DMcCulloch1984) shares his favourite fancies from Old Trafford.
Norwich vs Manchester United | Saturday 27th June 2020, 17:30 | BBC
The phrase ‘free hit’ has featured heavily in every Norwich-focused preview I have read of this game. Daniel Farke’s side have not fared well in the Premier League since its resumption, failing to score in defeats in seemingly winnable games against Southampton and Everton.
While Manchester United may not be the force of old, they are a better side than either of Norwich’s recent opponents and have impressed in recent matches – both before and after the recent break.
Goals have been at a relative premium since Premier League football returned, with 47 goals scored in 22 matches. While that is a small sample of games, both viewers and statisticians can probably agree that the majority of matches have been dull, with just six of the games seeing both teams find the net.
With all that in mind, my fancy is Both Teams To Score: No at 17/20 at BetVictor. I was very surprised that this option was so big and believed it must be due to the statistics pre-COVID. However, just 14 of Norwich’s 31 matches this term have seen both sides score as have 15 of Manchester United’s from the same number of games.
While Carrow Road has been a bit of a hotbed for goalscoring action, given that the Canaries have not created a huge amount against inferior opposition in recent matches so I have little confidence of them scoring against a Manchester United side who have conceded just a single goal in their last two matches, with an Expected Goals (xG) total of just 0.64 across the two matches.
I did consider backing United to win by two goals or more but given how few goals have been scored in recent fixtures, I think opposing goals is the simpler option.
Best Bets
Norwich vs Manchester United – Both Teams To Score: No (17/20 BetVictor)
