Manchester United have had a poor start to the EPL: Not true. United have claimed exactly the same number of points from their opening 4 fixtures as Manchester City and Chelsea, and they have had a far tougher start. Indeed even with that tough start, United’s goal difference is better than Chelsea’s.

Manchester United’s odds reflect the fact that they are unfancied to win the EPL: That’s clearly what the bookmakers think, pricing them up at $4.20 (in from $4.50) making them third favourites behind City and Chelsea, however, as mentioned above nothing separates them from their rivals, and they’ve had a tougher start. $4.20 is great value and should be snapped up, before it drops further.

United had a poor transfer window: Moyes admits is wasn’t United’s best transfer window, but United had two primary targets, Fellaini and Baines. They got one and missed out on the other. Hardly poor. As for stories of Ozil / Erikson / Thiago etc, most journalists are glossing over the fact that al 3 players were offered to United and United chose not to pursue them. Maybe Moyes will be proved wrong however, if the club choses it doesn’t want to sign someone, that doesn’t make the transfer window unsuccessful. After all it wouldn’t be the first time United stopped pursuing a player and ended up being proved wrong…Bale….Ramsey….Zidane…. etc.

Moyes is no Fergie: Correct, of course he isn’t, but to label him / United doomed to failure because they didn’t sign a left back with a 1980s haircut, or because they chose not to sign a little German with eyes bigger than his head, is wrong. As mentioned before Lord Ferg made many errors in the transfer market, which tend to get forgotten. Kleberson. Djemba Djemba. Bellion. Blanc. Taibi. Milne. Manucho. Dong Fangzhou. etc. Similarly pundits are saying that because a Lord Ferg team would have scored 4 or 5 against Palace, and Moyes’ team only managed two, both from set pieces, it shows him to be a failure. What nonsense. United often ground out routine 2-0 victories against lowly teams under Ferg. Fact.

So after dispelling those myths we can turn to the minor business of Manchester City vs Manchester United (Monday 23rd Sept 01:00am) Sportsbet price the game up thus: Man City – $2.20, Draw – $3.40, Man Utd – $3.00. Rarely will you get a chance to get $3.00 on United, and with City also toiling under a new manager trying to find his best starting XI out of the 48 international players at his disposal, United’s settled and more gelled team should prove too strong for City. For one, I thin United will win this one comfortably, and will be having a little flutter on Man Utd 2-0 at excellent odds of $17.00, in addition to piling into United at odds of $3.00 to win the game.

Saturday’s Railway Stakes was a different matter – even though it was the first main group 1 event since Cup week, the usual bookmakers didn’t open their betting on it until around Wednesday. Even Betfair and IASbet, who seem among the earliest with most races, didn’t get going on it properly until the middle of last week.

Strange then, that the Winterbottom Stakes, due to appear next Saturday, is already on the go over the web, and in some cases was up and running before bets were being processed on the Railway.

When I had a good root around on Saturday, before the Railway, you could get 4.20 for Warathas Secret at the top of the Winterbottom market at IASbet – while a number of runners who were due to feature in the Railway were in there at tempting prices.

All American, second favourite for the Railway most of the week, was on 31.00 for the Winterbottom, for example.

A point worth bearing in mind, and there will of course be more on the three-year-olds and up race at Ascot throughout the week.

Elsewhere, back with the soccer, all of the major European leagues have now passed the ten games played stage – always a good benchmark to decide who really is in and who is definitely out, when it comes to title races.

In the English Premier League betting markets, Chelsea, the current league leaders, are still the favourites, while Liverpool’s challenge is already all but dead and buried after a poor start.

Holders Manchester United have faltered of late while Arsenal have been growing slowly and steadily. Although there’s little to choose between them and United, points-wise anyway, Arsenal at the moment look like a side capable of powering through later in the season and providing some value – Betfair have them at 5.00 now and this could be the best value for a side which is not Chelsea- the Blues are far too low in many markets given how early in the season it still is.