City come into this game off the back of New Year's Day's shock defeat at Sunderland. Liverpool have had a couple of extra days rest since they won 3-1 at home to Newcastle last Friday. City will probably recall Richards, Clichy, Milner, Silva, Aguero and Balotelli to the starting line-up as they will need their best XI to take anything against a strong Liverpool side likely to feature Gerrard and Suarez. The 2 sides drew 1-1 at Anfield recently in an excellent, uncompromising encounter that saw City's 10 men hold on thanks to Joe Hart's keeping. City won this fixture 3-0 last season but Liverpool are otherwise unbeaten since 2005 at the Etihad. Liverpool haven't lost against any of last season's top 4 in 5 fixtures this season. City have won 9/9 at home in the Premier League and were unbeaten in 28 matches there in 2011. City last lost successive games in October 2010. This is a tough game to call, with the draw possibly the best bet at 13/5. City can be backed at 10/11, which is good given their home record. Liverpool are 7/2.
Both Teams Score - City have scored 28 and conceded 4 in 9 home games this season but resilient Liverpool have conceded just 7 in 9 away. City have 4 clean sheets from their last 6 matches and Liverpool have managed only 10 goals in 9 away from Anfield. In what is likely to be a tough, tight match it could be that both teams do not score, which is available at 11/10.
Over/Under 2.5 goals - City have been less rampant of late, failing to score in their last 2 games, and have failed to score more than 1 in a game 7 times in their last 10. 7 of Liverpool's 9 away games have seen under 2.5 goals. 5 of the last 7 between these sides at the Etihad have seen under 2.5 goals. Most firms are offering around 10/11 under 2.5 and 10/11 over 2.5 goals.
Total Bookings Points - Andre Marriner takes charge of the game and is fond of a card, dishing out 33 yellows and a red in 8 Premier League games this season. The Anfield fixture saw 6 yellows and a red and I expect a similar figure in this game. A yellow is worth 10 points and a red 25. It's 35 points when 2 yellows for a player leads to an automatic red (as with Balotelli at Anfield). 13/10 is available for over 50 points with Blue Square and 888Sport.
Picks: 2 x singles: Under 2.5 goals and Over 50 Bookings Points.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment