Man United’s overrated defence, John Terry’s unfortunate choice of words

Five stats about this weekend’s football

1. Four Manchester United players made the back five in the PFA team of the season despite the fact Chelsea have conceded an average of 0.59 goals a game compared to Manchester United’s 0.70 and have even kept more clean sheets - 21 to the Red Devils’ 20.

2. Middlesbrough have now lost ten consecutive Premier League away games although Arsenal’s 2-0 win yesterday marked the first time in six attempts that Arsene Wenger had got the better of Gareth Southgate.

3. Spurs have the best home defence in the Premier League having conceded just nine goals in 17 games. After their 5-2 loss to Manchester United though they have the joint-third worst defensive record on the road, shipping 32 goals in 17 games - only one less than West Brom.

Posted: April 27th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Check out Betfair’s Carling Cup Final Big Match Wizard

Man Utd/Spurs, Sunday 3pm, Sky Sports 1, Free Bets, Best Odds

chickendinner have teamed up with Betfair to produce this device which tells you what impact each player is likely to have on proceedings in the Carling Cup final. Click here to check it out now!

Posted: February 27th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Nemanja Vidic is evens to be named PFA Player of the Year

Serbian defender’s recent form sees him installed as favourite

Paddy Power have installed defender Nemanja Vidic as the evens favourite to win the PFA Player of the Year award after being an ever-present in Manchester United’s run of thirteen straight clean sheets.

Counting against him is the fact that a defender has triumphed just once in the last fifteen years. If the voting took place a month ago, as Micah Richards confirmed was the case last season, it is also possible that he wouldn’t have received as many mentions as he would if votes were cast now.

Steven Gerrard is second favourite at 7/2, which seems surprising as the general consensus has been that Xabi Alonso has been Liverpool’s standout performer for most of the season, with current holder Cristiano Ronaldo close behind at 5/1 despite not matching last season’s form.

The player that has impressed chickendinner this season - Stephen Ireland - is a big outsider at 50/1, which is unsurprising as ten years have passed since a player from outside the Big Four last triumphed.

Key trends:

Posted: February 12th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Make money as Manchester United look to climb to second

Click here for all the best odds on tonight’s Premier League game

Following Manchester United’s victory over title rivals Chelsea, chickendinner correspondent Danny Harris can’t see Wigan triumphing at Old Trafford despite their brilliant recent form. Here are some of the best bets available for the game:

» Cristiano Ronaldo has scored six goals in four league appearances against Wigan so the 11/10 offered by 888sport that he scores at any time is a decent bet.

» Wigan have lost all seven meetings with Manchester United in the league and in the Carling Cup final with an aggregate of 22-3 so expect United to grab a few goals. The champions have already kept twelve Premier League clean sheets this term and have let in the least goals in the league, going nearly thirteen hours without conceding so don’t be surprised if Edwin van der Sar isn’t beaten again. Wigan have also conceded more Premier League goals to United than to any other club so a 3-0 home win at 7/1 or 4-0 victory at 12/1 (both with 888sport) are decent bets.

Posted: January 14th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Five reasons why Manchester United will win big tonight

Man Utd/Aalborg, 7.45pm, Sky Sports 2, Best Odds, Free Bets

The last sixteen in this year’s competition have already been confirmed without any real surprises so all Manchester United have left to play for is the chance to top their group. This is supposed to guarantee an easier knockout stage draw but with Inter Milan finishing second in their group and Bayern Munich and Real Madrid likely to follow tonight, any advantage is minimal. United are generally 1/5 to win tonight but the best value in on them winning by four or more goals, available at 4/1 with Boylesports, or to score five at 11/2 with Sky Bet. Here’s why:

1. Aalborg have let in 12 goals in the Champions League group stages this season – the second highest in the competition after five games - and conceded six away to Villarreal.

2. With their UEFA Cup spot guaranteed, Aalborg have nothing left to play for. They failed to score on their last visit to Britain to face Celtic and alarmingly have a negative goal difference even in their domestic league, which they won last season.

Posted: December 10th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment