THERE'S a midweek programme in the Premier League this week. Chris Graham (@chrisgraham79) took a look at the Tuesday card for us.
Man Utd v Stoke | Tuesday 19:45
Three wins in a row now for Louis Van Gaal's side, and just a suspicion that the rocky terrain of the last 16 months might just be coming to an end.
Manchester United seem to be improving with each performance. Their narrow Crystal Palace victory was superseded by the win at The Emirates the weekend before last, while the ease with which they beat Hull on Saturday was probably the most impressive of all.
However they're best price 4/9 with a clutch of bookmakers (including William Hill) to beat Stoke on Tuesday night and that's just too short for me. Yeah maybe it is time to forget about the horror shows of the early season when they lost to MK Dons, Leicester and Swansea, but I'm not prepared to play at those prices.
Stoke have had a head-scratcher of a season. They've beaten Manchester City and Tottenham away, but lost to the likes of Burnley, Leicester, Sunderland and Aston Villa. It's infuriating if you're backing them at short odds!
Three of those four poor defeats came on home turf, and it seems they're enjoying playing away from home a lot more this season. That might be the key here.
I'm happy to side with Mark Hughes' side +1 on the Asian Handicap at odds of 5/4 with BetVictor. If they avoid defeat I get paid out, if they lose by the odd goal, it get my money back.
Manchester United may well be heading for third place now, but I'm willing to take them on here again.
Swansea v QPR | Tuesday 19:45
I backed both these sides at the weekend. I must say I was disappointed that Swansea couldn't beat Crystal Palace, but not at all surprised that QPR beat Leicester. Perhaps it wasn't as straight-forward as I thought to be honest.
Swansea are back at The Liberty Stadium on Tuesday night and are best price 3/4 with BetVictor amongst others to win this tie. Garry Monk's side have had an excellent season on home turf with four wins from their seven league fixtures.
Despite that, there's just something drawing me in to siding with QPR. I just think they're always too big a price every week and that's what I'm keeping my eye out for. To be fair, most of the time I have put them in my Premier League bets they haven't let me down.
On Tuesday, they go into this game at 9/2 with Betfair to win and that's probably beyond them. After all they've lost all their away games this season in the Premier League…you see I'm already starting to question my view here. How can I back a side that have lost away from home every game this season?
I think to answer my question, there has been a general improvement in QPR since the Liverpool defeat on October 19th. They've only played two away games since then, losing by the odd goal to the two form sides in the division, Chelsea and Newcastle. Hardly shameful.
So, I'm going to give them a chance here to address that awful away record and back them to avoid defeat at 23/18 with BetVictor. Yes, I might regret this, but I like backing underrated QPR.
Best Bets
Man Utd v Stoke – Stoke +1 Asian Handicap (5/4 BetVictor)
Swansea v QPR – QPR +0.5 Asian Handicap (23/18 BetVictor)
