Manchester United: Michael Carrick leans on Sir Alex Ferguson ahead of Aston Villa’s visit

Seven points from nine games, 17th in the table: Manchester United go into Sunday’s home game against Aston Villa (4.30pm) in a rut broken only by Tuesday’s 3-2 comeback against Roma, their first win in ten matches. The eve of the game found Michael Carrick talking about Sir Alex Ferguson: the 40th anniversary of his appointment, 6 November 1986, passed yesterday.

Asked about the comparison, Carrick did not dodge it. “I’m probably closer to him now and speak to him more than I did when I was playing. I think relationships change over time, and that’s only natural,” he told Sky Sports. “Ever since I came here, the impact he had on me as an individual was immense.” And on the idea of taking United back to the standards of the Ferguson era: “It’s not impossible. Anything’s possible.”

Ferguson, for his part, waited almost seven years for his first title at United, a club without a league championship since 1967; he then won thirteen, plus two Champions Leagues. In his autobiography he wrote that Carrick carried “a nonchalance that makes people underestimate his value”, and rated him among his most intelligent players and his best passers. Sky Sports still describes Carrick’s position as one of intense scrutiny, despite the European result.

The Scot fills the club’s news for another reason: his new book, Games of my life, revisits the brain haemorrhage he suffered at home on 5 May 2018 and the part his wife Cathy played in saving him. “If my wife hadn’t been there, the referee in the sky might have blown the final whistle for me,” he writes. Back at Old Trafford on 22 September 2018, he compared that day to a return from the dead.

The market judges the team, not the bloodline

Odds do not trade in nostalgia. United’s win has come in from 2.32 at opening to 2.23 at 1xbet (7 November snapshot), Tuesday’s Roma result tightening the price. Villa’s, after a 0-3 defeat at Barcelona in the Champions League that same evening, has drifted out to 3.30 at Bet365 (6 November snapshot). The market gives United a win slightly less often than one time in two (44%): a favourite, without conviction.

The full odds, team news and the match pick are in our Manchester United v Aston Villa preview. 18+. Only bet what you can afford to lose.