Table-toppers Manchester United worth backing

Man Utd: New TV deal

Man Utd: New TV deal

Manchester United can be backed at 5/1 to win the Premier League – and they represent a value punt after Manchester City and Chelsea slipped up.

Now as short as 4/1, United cruised to a 3-0 win over Sunderland at Old Trafford, but it was Chelsea’s 2-2 draw at Newcastle and Tottenham’s shock 4-1 win over Man City which moved United to the shortest price they have been all season.

Louis van Gaal’s men, who were 5/1 shots before the season started, had drifted out to 13/2 ahead of the Old Trafford showdown with doomed Sunderland, but goals from Memphis Depay, Wayne Rooney and Juan Mata made short work of Dick Advocaat’s men.

United have now moved menacingly to the top of the table and look worth having an interest in – having not yet clicked into top gear.

The Reds certainly have the credentials to mount at title-winning bid – they have won the league five times in the last nine years – and that statistic alone should see them shorter than the current quotes. Also, in Van Gaal they have a manager, who is at least mildly competent, and they have not gone three years without winning the title for 10 years.

First Arsenal (2003/04), and then Chelsea (2004/05, 2005/06) with back-to-back trophies threatened to put a spanner in the works of Sir Alex Ferguson’s Premier League dominance, but United were back as winners in 2006/07 and they look primed for a bold showing this time around.

United have not yet gelled into a team that can be compared to one of Fergie’s, but their policy of buying big shows no signs of abating and it would be no surprise to see Van Gaal spend again in January if United are in with a sniff off trumping their rivals.

Man City remain the 10/11 favourites to claim the title, but those odds have eased dramatically following their third defeat in four games – their second defeat in the league. City were already being heralded as the champions-elect after winning their first five games and they were as short as 1/3 to take Chelsea’s crown.

That has changed however, after Tottenham – with a little help from the officials – blew them away in the second half at White Hart Lane.

Arsenal are second favourites and can be backed at 4/1 after an Alexis Sanchez treble fired them to an impressive 5-2 win away at in-form Leicester.

Matt Briggs