Manchester City vs Sunderland
I was very happy with last nights effort as the Juve v. Inter match ended
in a 1-1 draw so the only part of the tip that did not come up was the
anytime goalscorer part which I can definitely live with!
On to today and the challenge of keeping the run going which is definitely
easier said then done.
Not much to choose from today but I like the chances of Manchester City at
home to Sunderland tonight.
City are generally 8/13 to win tonight and if they do collect 3 points
will leap above Chelsea into 3rd place in the league.
City at home this season have won 6 from 6 in the league scoring 10 and
conceding only 2, and the much maligned Sven Goran Erickson seems to be
building one of the best teams the blue side of Manchester have had in
many years.
The star for them so far has been the Brazilian Elano who they signed from
Ukraine side Shakhtar Donetsk in the summer, he has settled into the
Premiership brilliantly and I would imagine there are a few managers in
the league kicking themselves that they did not take a risk on him.
Roy Keane`s Sunderland have shown enough to convince me that they will
avoid the drop this season as the manager is building a team very much in
his own image, they are hard to break down work hard and are disciplined,
but I feel the key to their survival will be results gained at the Stadium
of Light in front of their superb fans rather then anything they can
achieve on their travels.
Their away form in the league this season is won 0 drawn 2 lost 4 scored 7
and conceded 14, with the 2 away draws coming at Birmingham and
Middlesbrough though they did come out with a lot of credit in their 3-2
loss at the Emirates to Arsenal coming back from 2-0 down to give the home
team a fright.
Form wise City have won 3 drawn 1 and lost 2 of their last 6 with all the
win coming at Eastlands with wins over Birmingham (1-0), Middlesbrough
(3-1) and Newcastle (3-1).
During the same period Sunderland have 1 win 2 draws and 3 defeats to show
for their efforts and the win in that time was back in September when they
won 2-1 at home to Reading.
Head to head between the two sides again shows the home side to have the
advantage:
Mar 5, 06 Premiership Manchester City 2 - 1 Sunderland
Aug 23, 05 Premiership Sunderland 1 - 2 Manchester City
Apr 21, 03 Premiership Manchester City 3 - 0 Sunderland
Dec 9, 02 Premiership Sunderland 0 - 3 Manchester City
Dec 23, 00 Premiership Sunderland 1 - 0 Manchester City
Aug 23, 00 Premiership Manchester City 4 - 2 Sunderland
Jan 17, 98 Championship... Manchester City 0 - 1 Sunderland
Aug 15, 97 Championship... Sunderland 3 - 1 Manchester City
Looking at the above details leads be into my second bet in this match
which will be over 2.5 goals. With 6 out of 8 meetings recently finishing
over that threshold I am happy to take the evens on offer with several
bookies at the time of writing.
Team news so far is that Micah Richards is set to miss out for Manchester
City because of a bruised knee but Winger Martin Petrov is available again
after a toe injury.
Sunderland will be without suspended pair Paul McShane and Greg Halford
tonight's encounter whilst Kenwyne Jones has recovered from a calf
problem, but fellow forwards Dwight Yorke (calf) and Roy O'Donovan (ankle)
are rated at 50-50 for the game.
So City to beat Sunderland at generally 8/13 and Over 2.5 goals at
generally evens. Hopefully this will start the new week in the way I ended
the old one.
As always good luck,
Silverfox.
