Spurs v Manchester United: Bruno to bag another in London

Friday sees the first fixtures of gameweek 30 in the Premier League with Tottenham hosting Manchester United. Cast your minds back to before the pandemic and Jose Mourinho’s side were winless in six, whilst Solskjaer’s men had managed an impressive 11 games unbeaten in all competitions.
Despite being away from home, the bookies have made United favourites for this one with several firms such as bet365 and Betvictor going 29/20 about a win for The Reds, an implied probability of 41%. Three points for the hosts is priced at 2/1, with the draw currently being offered at 5/2. The game can be seen live on Sky Sports Premier League, kicking off at 20:15.

It’s fair to say that Jose Mourinho and Spurs have not really hit the ground running since ‘The Special One’ replaced Mauricio Pochettino and he will certainly have a point to prove in these remaining nine games of the season. We know how much Mourinho values a pre season and this premature break will have surely benefited him. The return of Harry Kane will be a huge boost for Spurs as he comes back after suffering a ruptured tendon on New Year's Day, although Dele Alli will miss out due to suspension.

Marcus Rashford also looks poised to return to the starting line-up after recovering from injury. He’s proved his quality as a player with 14 league goals from August to January, while also proving the kind of person he is off the pitch during the lockdown with his selfless actions (Marcus Rashford slashed from 150/1 to 6/4 for Sports Personality of the year). Plenty of admirers and punters, including ourselves, will be hoping he can find the net on Friday night. Paul Pogba is also available for selection but after such a turbulent season it’s no certainty that he will come back into the starting XI.

We've got three football tips for Friday night's big game.

For our first tip we are going for both Harry Kane and Bruno Fernandes to have one or more shots on target at 6/5. As mentioned above, Kane’s return will be a welcome one, and with the Tottenham talisman declaring himself fully-fit he should be raring to go and get back to doing what he does best.

Bruno Fernandes has been a breath of fresh air since he arrived in Manchester. His influence on the side has been clear to see and the way he appears to have settled in both on and off the pitch so quickly has left the army of United fans salivating like Pavlov’s dog. 

With both players having such prominent roles in the attacking areas and both being penalty takers for their sides we feel one or more shots on target for each of them should roll in nicely. Originally priced at 10/11, the generous chaps over at Betfair have boosted the price to 6/5 which makes plenty of appeal.

Our second selection once again features Bruno Fernandes and this time we are backing him to score from outside the area. Since joining in January, Bruno has been involved in an eye-watering 63% of Manchester United’s goals and when we have a look into his data, the numbers just seem to get more and more impressive.

In front of goal the fluorescent Portugese attacker has averaged 3.8 shots per game in the league, higher than anyone else in the United squad. Further to this. when we have a look at where on the pitch those shots have been coming from we can see that a staggering 74% of those are coming from outside the box. 

Another factor to consider with this 10/1 shot is that Bruno has also been taking free-kicks for United, however with Marcus Rashford back he may have some competition for those after Rashford’s rocket at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season. But with all things considered, and Fernandes averaging 2.8 shots from outside the area per game, with the proven ability to find the net from audacious distances, we’re backing Bruno to land us another winner. 

Here we go, the longshot, and we're not messing about with this one at the eyebrow-raising price of 66/1 for Kane and Rashford to score with Fred and Winks to be carded. 

Harry Kane has averaged 2.8 shots on goal per game for Spurs in the league this season and when you look at just home fixtures, that statistic then rises to 3.3 shots per game. He tends to finish the season well and we fancy him to get on the scoresheet for Spurs.

What a year Marcus Rashford is having and besides now being joint-favourite for Sports Personality of the Year at 6/4 (cut from 150/1 at the start of June), we are fancying the England International to find the net in his first game back after injury. 

Onto the bookings and the first usual suspect we have picked out is Harry Winks. Never frightened to get stuck in, Winks has been booked eight times in the league this season, the most of any Spurs player, and just two off the league highest in the league in Jorginho of Chelsea with 10.

On the United front we’ve picked out a player who has really progressed throughout the season. Many had question marks over Fred in his first campaign but he’s been superb in the middle of the park for Ole’s side this season. When it comes to discipline though the Brazilan has been booked more times than any other United player this season with seven. To add weight to this, Fred has committed more fouls than any other player at the club this season averaging 1.6 per game. 

It’s worth noting that Coral are 40/1 on this same game multi whilst bet365 are 50/1. But with 66/1 on offer from PaddyPower we feel this will be a popular selection for the game and would not be surprised to see it go off shorter. Of course there is still a certain amount of uncertainty around team news following the coronavirus, but best of luck with bets and please remember to always gamble responsibly.