European Weekend Treble: Manchester United and Inter to win plus goals at Lille


Liverpool

VS

Manchester United

Sunday kicks off with arguably the biggest rivalry in English football as Liverpool take on Manchester United.

Brendan Rodgers’ side have made a worrying start domestically and are without a win in four games. A number of individual errors have cost Liverpool at the back and with a total of eight goals conceded the Reds are yet to pick up a clean sheet.

Many will feel the home side will need to score at least once if they are to get anything out of Sunday’s game and with Fabio Borini unproven in the Premier League, controversial striker Luis Suarez will again be expected to be the main source of goals.

Manchester United responded to their opening day defeat at Everton by winning the next three games; scoring 10 goals, despite not hitting top gear. Robin van Persie could again be the man to watch and the Dutch forward scored twice at Anfield back in March to give former club Arsenal a 2-1 victory.

On a pure footballing level, Manchester United remain good value to pick up a result on Sunday, taking into account the form and mixed fortunes of the two sides.

Inter put their 3-1 defeat against Roma firmly behind them with a comfortable victory away at Torino last weekend. Goals from Antonio Cassano and Diego Milito gave Andrea Stramaccioni’s side a 2-0 win to maintain the pressure on unbeaten champions Juventus.

The performance of centre-back pairing Juan Jesus and Andrea Rannochia caught the eye of former defender Marco Materazzi, with the Nerazzurri picking up their second clean sheet of the season.

Opponents Siena rescued a point against Udinese after falling two goals behind at the Stadio Artemio Franchi. The visitors are yet to pick up a win this season and the loss of last season’s top goalscorer Mattia Destro will weaken the Robur, despite the arrivals of Alessandro Rosina and Ze Eduardo.

Inter played in the Europa League on Thursday, a competition that Stramaccioni said he would take seriously, but a draw against Rubin Kazan at San Siro could mean that the the Nerazzurri are more determined to win against Siena on Sunday.

Sebastian Grax’s late equaliser last weekend highlighted Lille’s shortcomings at the back as bottom side Troyes secured an unlikely draw at the Stade de l’Aube.

Lille are yet to keep a clean sheet in any of their five Ligue 1 fixtures this season and the visit of joint-top scorers Lyon will likely see that record extended.

Les Gones have scored in every game this season and you have to go back to the middle of April before you find Lyon failing to find the net. Goals from strikers Bafetimbi Gomis, Lisandro Lopez and Michel Bastos have been welcome for Remi Garde, who has led Lyon to an unbeaten start in the league.

Lille have made an unconvincing start to their season and have missed the craft, goals and guile of Eden Hazard, but all five of les Dogues games have finished with both sides scoring and Sunday’s rival clash has all the makings of a classic.


Jonathan Day is a football betting expert and a regular contributor to Goal.com. For more from Jonathan you can visit his website Sportingly Better or you can follow Sportingly Better on Twitter for in-play betting tweets.

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