Premier League: Can United End Disappointing Season on a High?

Manchester United vs Cardiff City

Manchester United’s disappointing Premier League campaign is mercifully coming to an end. The Red Devils have been in a horrific slump during the tail-end of the season, which has cost them Champions League football for next year.

United will at least hope to finish the season on a high in front of their home fans as they face relegated Cardiff City.

Despite a valiant effort by the Bluebirds, they are going back down to the Championship next year. The Premier League 2019 betting odds clearly don’t favour them to claim a famous win at Old Trafford, but this might be as good a shot as they’re going to get as they face a struggling United side.

Talking Points

Changes coming for United

United’s end-of-season run-in has been nothing short of disastrous. The door was wide open for them to take a top-four spot with their rivals also dropping points, but they failed to capitalise as their Premier League 2019 results just fell off a cliff.

The Red Devils have won just two of their last eight league matches and are winless in their last four (two losses, two draws). They are coming off back-to-back 1-1 draws: at home against Chelsea and, embarrassingly, at bottom-side Huddersfield.

After taking the lead early in both matches, United were unable to hold on and did not have the cutting edge to produce another goal.

United’s attack has been alarmingly bad during their rough end-of-season stretch. They have scored just three goals from open play in their last six matches — two of which have come from midfielder Scott McTominay, of all people.

With virtually nothing left to play for, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer may opt to make changes to the side in order to give some youngsters a run out at home.

Strikers Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez, who started against Huddersfield, are both significant injury doubts. That opens the door for 17-year-old Mason Greenwood to get his first career United start with Marcus Rashford up top.

United have only won three of their last seven matches at home. Although, two of their three draws did come against Liverpool and Chelsea, while their lone defeat was against leaders Manchester City.

Cardiff City are still looking to disappoint SBOBET odds and win vs Manchester United despite being relegated — Neil Warnock’s side will go back to Championship next year after being relegated

Cardiff’s last stand

Cardiff City’s brief return to the Premier League is coming to an end. Despite the obvious lack of top-quality personnel, Neil Warnock’s side scrapped and clawed for most of the season. Unfortunately, it wasn’t nearly enough to ensure safety.

They gave themselves a glimmer of hope when they beat relegation rivals Brighton away from home. But they’ve since lost their last three games, which gives them nine defeats in their last 11 outings.

A major factor in Cardiff’s struggles this season has been their sheer inability to get goals. They have scored just 32 goals, the second fewest behind bottom club Huddersfield. Bobby Reid and Victor Camarasa are their joint leading scorers this season with five goals apiece.

That scoring problem has been more pronounced away from home, where they have netted only 11 times and twice in the last five games. They couldn’t even find a way to score against Fulham — the worst defence in the Premier League — in their last away game.

History

Manchester United and Cardiff have met 27 times overall. Unsurprisingly, United hold the edge in wins with 13 while Cardiff have six. There have also been eight draws between the two.

However, they have faced each other just three times in the Premier League era. Cardiff held United to a 2-2 draw in Wales, but United have since won the last two meetings.

United’s current manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, was in charge of Cardiff the last time the Bluebirds visited Old Trafford in 2014. United won that match, 2-0.

Their first matchup this season was a dominant 5-1 win for United. Marcus Rashford started the scoring early with a goal inside three minutes, while Jesse Lingard bagged a second-half brace.

Betting Tip

	Manchester United vs Cardiff City	Under 3.25 Goals @ 2.08
	May 12, 22:00 (GMT+8

The last day of the season usually throws up some weird results. But a Cardiff win doesn’t seem likely. SBOBET odds currently have Cardiff priced at a whopping 11.00 on the 1X2 market.

What does seem very likely, though, is a low-scoring affair. Cardiff have surprisingly kept things fairly tight away from home. They’ve allowed more than two goals just once in their last 10 away games. That includes a 2-0 defeat at Man City.

Meanwhile, both teams have had their struggles scoring recently. And with United possibly fielding a teenager or two, the chances of this game having over three goals seems unlikely.