Sunderland v Man United: Rooney to add to Black Cats woes

Wayne Rooney is just six goals shy of overtaking Sir Bobby Charlton to become Manchester United’s leading all time scorer.

With 12 games to go it might seem like a tall order for the Red Devils captain to break the record this season, but having scored seven goals in his last eight games there is a chance Wazza could be crowned the club’s record goalscorer before the summer.

Sunderland know only too well what an in-form Rooney can mean for their chances of taking all three points this weekend, with the front man bagging three goals and six points in his last two meetings with Sam Allardyce’s men.

In fact Sunderland have won this fixture just twice in the last 29 clashes and failed to even score in the last two.

With this in mind the 11/10 on Manchester United to keep a clean sheet could hold more appeal than the 3/4 on the Red Devils to win outright.

Sunderland are 15/4 to spring a surprise, while the draw is on at 5/2 but with the hosts losing eight of their last 12 games maximum points might be a fanciful idea.

Instead, on current form, Rooney represents arguably punters’ best chance of a decent return.

The United talisman looks great value to continue his scoring run with an anytime goal priced at 13/10, while the 4/1 on him opening the scoring is also worth consideration.

However, with Sunderland fighting for survival and Rooney eyeing Chartlon’s record, it could pay to take the longer odds of 13/2 on a brace for the United man or the 33/1 he bags a memorable hat-trick.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.