Manchester United v West Ham: Back Red Devils to clear over 2.5 goals line at 5/4 | OneFootball

Man Utd v West HamThursday 4 December, 20:00Live on Sky Sports Main Event

Everton defeat can be forgiven

If you can indulge me and my love of a horse racing analogy, let's dip into the paddock for a moment because Manchester United right now are the classic 'forgive a horse one bad one' case.

United's recent form line reads six solid runs and one absolute shocker - that dire 1-0 home defeat to a 10-man Everton side that was baffling and a worrying exercise for Ruben Amorim.

You don't throw out the entire book for one rogue display. You look at the body of work. You look for patterns. And United, for all the noise that has circled following that Everton debacle, have looked a team progressing under Amorim this season. Wins against Liverpool, Chelsea, Brighton and Crystal Palace have shown that.

It's not champagne form, but it's form to trust and when a limited team like West Ham show up at the Old Trafford door, this United team do have enough about them to send them back packing back to London with no points.

Amorim hasn't got the balance right but he is embracing allowing United to express themselves in forward areas with a clear gameplan to get Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo the ball at every opportunity. United have scored two or more goals in seven of their last nine Premier League games, averaging 1.9 goals per game.

Hitting that average in this encounter should be enough to land their odds of 2/5 with the Betfair Sportsbook.

New manager, same problems

West Ham may have changed the manager but they haven't changed what matters. Because for all the talk of an upgrade in the dugout, the Nuno Espirito Santo version of West Ham still walk and talk like a team in serious relegation trouble. Despite an improvement in results, their underlying process in defence remains very worrying with 2.1 expected goals per 90 still rating them as the second worst defence in the Premier League behind Burnley.

Instead of simply backing United to win on the nose at skinny odds, based on all the evidence of United being stacked in forward areas and West Ham being very susceptible at the heart of their defence, the 5/4 about United scoring over 2.5 goals rates as a nice wager to attack.

Casemiro brings big goal threat

With United goals firmly on my betting mind, dipping into the goalscorer markets is also a savvy method of attack. Casemiro is the man to back at 4/1 in the anytime market - he's having a massive impact all across the pitch for United this season, including as being their focal point from set pieces. United have turned set pieces into their personal ATM this season with 10 goals from dead-ball situations, the joint-most in the Premier League with Arsenal.

Casemiro already has got three goals to his name this campaign, two from set pieces, and he attacks the ball with great aggression and a desire to score a goal. Something you always want from a player whose threat is predominantly from set piece situations.

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