Manchester United may have missed out on rumoured target Erling Braut Haaland, but they end the calendar year of 2019 just four points and one place off the Premier League top four. Bookmakers have reacted to this by cutting their odds of making it back into Europe’s elite.
Securing Champions League football for the 2020-21 campaign will help Red Devils boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer attract players to Old Trafford in what promises to be a busy summer at the club in and around Euro 2020.
The United manager feels his team are “a little bit further behind” in terms of development than he would like. Solskjaer is looking for greater consistency from his players.
Putting a string of results together used to come so easily during the Sir Alex Ferguson era. It was child’s play for the Red Devils sides Solskjaer himself played in that regularly won trophies and were betting favourites to do so.
There are shoots of optimism at Old Trafford, however. For just the second time this season, United managed to record consecutive Premier League victories with two comfortable Christmastime wins over Newcastle United and Burnley.
Proof of the relative progress this represents can be found just a few months back in the autumn. A 1-0 defeat at St James’s Park in October came amid a six-match winless run across all competitions.
The Red Devils start 2020 in fifth place in the Premier League and are odds-on for a top-six finish, but it’s worth remembering they lost to then bottom club Watford away in their pre-Christmas fixture. This is precisely the kind of inconsistency concerning Solskjaer.
Marcus Rashford is having a fine season and, whether deployed as the central striker or on the wing, he has 19 goals in 32 games for club and country going into the New Year. He is a 10/1 chance to be the Premier League’s top scorer, while fellow Old Trafford academy graduate Mason Greenwood and French forward Anthony Martial are also supplementing those strikes.
With their attack starting to fire, it’s no wonder United are among football betting tips for a top four finish at 13/5 with Betfair. The halfway stage in a Premier League season can be a good time to take stock of the campaign and see what tipsters fancy for the rest of it.
This particular punt makes sense for reasons that don’t even directly involve Solskjaer’s side. Chelsea occupy fourth place going into 2020 and 8/15 to finish the season in the top four, but Frank Lampard’s team have started dropping points at home.
It is worth remembering the Blues have had their transfer embargo lifted, however, and can now sign reinforcements in the January window to strengthen their own bid for more Champions League football.
Former Red Devils manager Jose Mourinho is back in London with Tottenham, meanwhile, and they have been top four regulars under predecessor Mauricio Pochettino. However, the spectre of Denmark playmaker Christian Eriksen leaving looms over the club and that’s why Spurs are trading around a similar price as United to secure more Champions League football.
Eriksen is a player said to be of long-standing interest to the Red Devils. That in itself may be in turn related to the future of France midfielder Paul Pogba, but Spurs chairman Daniel Levy drives a very hard bargain.
United’s run-in sees several Premier League games at the end of the season come against teams who have been in the bottom half so far. Fixtures with Brighton, Bournemouth, Aston Villa, Southampton and West Ham – once again managed by Ferguson’s ill-fated Old Trafford successor David Moyes – all look winnable.
If Solskjaer can get his side to go on a late season run, then that could well push them over the line in that race for a top-four finish and, if the odds are anything to go by, there’s no expected reason why that shouldn’t happen.
