Home I Football I Manchester City vs Tottenham Hotspur Preview
The undoubted highlight of the weekend’s Premier League action is the Spurs’ trip to Etihad Stadium, live on BT Sport 1 at 17:30 on Saturday.
Arguably, there’s never been a worse time to face City away and Spurs must have everything in their favour to take points off Guardiola’s white-hot unit, who have steamrollered their way to a record fifteen consecutive Premier League wins.
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Both sides are coming off the back of routine victories- City swept Swansea away 4-0 whilst the Spurs were comfortable enough in seeing off Brighton 2-0 at the Lane on Wednesday night.
Spurs are a whopping 18 points behind City after just 17 games this season and it’s hard to see them reducing the deficit on Saturday. Pochettino’s men are without an away win in the league since September, picking up just one point from their last 12 on their travels- that coming 20 miles up the M1 at Vicarage Road. Leicester, Arsenal, and United have all put the Spurs away on home turf recently and everything points to a home win again here.
City are 11/20 (1.55) with Betfair Sports and Betway and we’ve got no problem advising getting stuck in to that price. Last night Guardiola promised against complacency and we see no reason to disbelieve him. Sure, Spurs battled back from 2-0 down here last season, but these simply aren’t the same two teams. City has been ruthless this term and we don’t have to worry about their goalkeeper being a liability any more.
Ederson (pictured below) has been outstanding in the league this season as Guardiola has finally found a goalkeeper up to the standard required of a side with genuine title aspirations.
Joe Hart has proven time and again that his skills will never match his ego and not many said “Bravo” to many of Claudio’s performances after Pep punted on the Chilean. Ederson’s double save to deny Romelu Lukaku and then Juan Mata in the Manchester derby was simply outstanding and makes tucking into City at odds-on quotes a far less risky proposition than at this time last year.
For those who aren’t keen on smashing into the short ones, it might be worth looking towards the goalscorer markets for a juicier price. David Silva has been in fantastic form of late and appears to be reaping the benefits of some kind of reverse Samson-effect since he got rid of his hair.
He’s banged in four in his last 3 league games, including notching his first against both Swansea away last time and at Old Trafford in the game before. Bet365’s 12/1 first goalscorer is surely too big, and Paddy Power/Betfair Sports are both offering 7/2 the Spaniard finds the net at any time.
If you’re after a long shot, look no further than Nicolas Otamendi. He’s proven his prowess in front of goal this season and in a match likely to provide goals, William Hill’s stand-out 9/1 is too big for someone who’s scored 2 in his last 3 games. The same bookie is offering 25/1 the Argentine opens the scoring, which represents a shade of value.
Whatever you’re backing on Saturday- best of luck and enjoy the game.
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