Manchester City will be looking to move up to second in the Premier League table and cut Chelsea’s gap at the top to just eight points when they host a Stoke side who will be looking to play the role of spoilers at the Etihad Stadium.
This match has been brought forward from the upcoming weekend as City are in FA Cup action but the good news is that Sky have moved quickly and are showing the game.
Man City
After a bit of a wobble around Christmas and just after Man City are finding their feet once again now. They have won their last four matches and are keeping clean sheets but still scoring goals and that is never a bad combination. The clean sheet thing is interesting as it has largely come since Guardiola turned to Willy Caballero in goal.
At the other end of the pitch there has never been a concern for City. Only Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal have score more goals than them this season and two of those have played an extra match. City have scoring options from all angles and they’ll be looking to find the net a few times here to take into some big matches to come.
Stoke City
Much was made of Stoke’s wretched start to the season at the time but the simple fact was their fixtures were nasty to begin with. As the matches have gotten slightly easier they have taken advantage and they now head into this one off the back of two wins in their last three matches and safely in the top half of the table.
If there is a concern it comes in their form against the bigger sides. It is pretty poor especially on the road and that is something they are going to have to address if they are to go to the next level. They recently lost 4-0 at Tottenham and they have also shipped four goals at Chelsea and at Liverpool which in isolation is fair enough but in a batch is a concern.
Team News
Man City remain without Gabriel Jesus for this match which means Sergio Aguero will continue up top. Pep Guardiola is hoping that Vincent Kompany will be fit to play.
Stoke have Xherdan Shaqiri available after he has missed a batch of matches through injury. They have no Wilfried Bony and with Marko Arnautovic, Bruno Martins Indi and Glen Johnson all doubtful this will be a patched up side doing battle.
Betting
I like City in this match I have to say. I’ve not always been fans of theirs this season but they look to be in a nice groove at the minute and quite simply Stoke can’t keep the ball out of their net when they play the bigger sides.
They especially struggle against quality movement and Man City have that in abundance so I’m anticipating a long night at the office for the visitors. The Asian line here gives Stoke a two goal start but I’m not sure even that will be enough. I fancy City can win this by a decent margin but even a two goal win gets us our money back.
Tips
Back Man City (-1.75AH) to beat Stoke for a 4/10 stake at 1.84 with BetVictor
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