Chelsea v Manchester United: Blues to edge Red Devils in title clash

Chelsea welcome Manchester United to Stamford Bridge in what is the first genuine title clash of the season.

The hosts are in rampant domestic form, and are healthily priced at 7/5 to win their eighth league game from nine against Sir Alex Ferguson’s side.

Whilst big-game match-ups like this one are often difficult to call, it seems such value for the home side is worth backing.

Chelsea have won all five of their domestic fixtures on home soil so far this campaign, racking up 17 goals in the process.

And fresh off the back of their superb 4-2 comeback at White Hart Lane, Roberto Di Matteo’s team will be confident of continuing their impressive Premier League form when they entertain perennial rivals United.

However, a mid-week blip in the form of a 2-1 defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk may sway the minds of punters, and therefore taking Chelsea in the draw no bet market at 8/11 could be safer.

Considering United have suffered two defeats on league duty already this season – to Everton and Tottenham – a third against the high-flying Blues would not be a huge shock.

Those who do fancy Sir Alex Ferguson’s side to come out on top will be able to back them at 15/8, whilst the draw could be tempting given how evenly matched the two sides are, found at 23/10.

Recent history points towards a 2-1 scoreline in Chelsea’s favour though, considering that three of the last six clashes between these sides have ended with that result for the home team.

And a price of 8/1 certainly makes that bet tempting, while both teams have found the net in their last eight outings, which adds value to odds of 8/13 for both teams to score.

Even without eternal leaders Frank Lampard and John Terry – through injury and suspension respectively – Chelsea look like an outfit with enough strength to overcome the visitors.

In Juan Mata, the hosts possess the division’s most impressive midfielder, as the Spaniard has been instrumental in their success this term with three goals and five assists in his last four outings.

Mata is 11/5 to score at anytime, and you can have odds of 4/1 for him to get on the scoresheet in a Chelsea win.

For United, Robin Van Persie has six league strikes since his £24m switch from Arsenal, and given he operates at the tip of an attacking spearhead which might also include Wayne Rooney due to Shinji Kagawa’s knee injury, he’s a decent bet to find the net.

Van Persie looks worth his odds of 5/1 to open the scoring, whilst Rooney scored in both league meetings between Chelsea and United last season and is 7/4 to score during the 90 minutes.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.