Venue: Old Trafford Saturday, October 3rd 2009 Kick-Off:17:30

Manchester United play host to Sunderland at the Theatre of Dreams in this late Saturday afternoon Premiership Fixture, which can be seen live on ESPN with a 5:30pm Kick Off Time.

The Red Devils have recovered extremely well after defeat at the hands of Premiership newboys Burnley in just game two of the Season and since that minor slip up have began to gather momentum which has resulted in them beating every side put in front of them since which has propelled them to a familiar top of the table position.

Many would of no doubt seen the emphatic display midweek in the Champions League game against German Champions Wolfsburg. Despite going a goal down the whole United team seemed to up the gears and put on a masterclass display which produced yet another world class free kick from ageing winger Giggs who at times doesn't look to have lost any of his quickness and trickery that served him so well in recent years.

However, todays visitors Sunderland will certainly go into this game with their tails up as they are playing some very good football at the moment and seem to be scoring goals for fun, which is reflected in their 5 goal haul against Wolves last weekend. Steve Bruce will certainly be no stranger to Old Trafford and will no doubt get a hero's welcome from both sets of fans as he enters the stadium. It will be the ex united players 13th attempt at trying to beat his old Manager and he certainly has a team that could produce a shock come the full time whistle.

Manchester United Team News

Unfortunatley it just doesn't seem to get any better for Michael Owen as he once again returns to the treatment table nursing a groin strain and next Summers World Cup England place dream is begining to fade very quickly. Edwin van der Sar has still not fully recovered from his damaged hand and will again be watching from the sidelines. Tomasz Kuzsczak started in goal midweek against Wolfsburg and had a very good game, but it looks like Ben the Indecisive Foster will return between the sticks. Park Ji-sung is recovering from illness and its still not certain whether or not he will be involved in the squad.

Sunderland Team News

Steve Bruce will have just about a full strength side to choose from heading into this one with the only two casualties being Lee Cattermole and John Mensah. Darren Bent will be hoping to continue his fine scoring form and former United youngster Fraizer Campbell will also be hoping to get on the pitch at some point.

Summary

David vs Goliath ? ok maybe not that much of a mismatch but the way Manchester United have been playing recently its impossible for me to go against them. The bookmakers also feel the same way having them priced up at a skinny 1.20 to take care of business and naturaly these sort of odds are not worth getting involved in at all.

The value seems to lie with the Bookings Market. Statistics show that in the previous 8 encounters between the two sides only once has there been more than 3 Bookings. You can jump on the Under 3.5 Yellow Cards Booking Market @ 1.57 with Bet365.

For those of you who like a bit of a speculative bet I would suggest having some on the Anytime Goal Scorer Market with Wayne Rooney @ 1.93, Darrent Bent @ 4.50 and Paul Scholes @ 6.00 .

As for the winner of the game well that surely has to be Manchester United for me by the odd goal or two.

Dave's Prediction:

Manchester United 2-1 Sunderland @ 9.00 with Betfred