Man City v Stoke: Back Sergio to slay Stoke

Man City v Stoke
Wednesday March 8, 20:00
Live on Sky Sports 1

Man City

After a routine win at Sunderland last weekend, Man City have now won four Premier League games in a row and have a five point cushion (with this game in hand still to play) from Arsenal in fifth.

Pep Guardiola and his men will be fully confident ahead of Stoke's visit; they have a good record against the Potters and there is a feeling they're starting to replicate some of that early season form which saw them go ten wins in a row from the start of the season.

With the exception of Ilkay Gundogan and Gabriel Jesus, Guardiola has a full-strength squad to choose from.

Stoke

Stoke remain something of an enigma - capable of performances of great quality one week, they revert to listlessness far too often and look absolutely doomed (if that's the correct term) to mid-table mediocrity for the foreseeable future.

Indeed, since they achieved promotion to the Premier League their list of finishes reads as follows: 12th, 11th, 13th, 14th, 13th, 9th, 9th, 9th. It's enough to send fans crazy through boredom. They currently sit, yep you guessed it, 9th and have predictably won four and lost four of their last ten.

Man City is a tough assignment and Mark Hughes' men will probably lose. After all, what could be more predictable than that?

Marko Arnautovic is a doubt with illness.

Match Odds

Man City are very, very short for this game and it's no wonder. They're on the top three teams in this division in this writer's opinion, and Stoke's record is suitably bad at the Etihad - one goal in their eight most recent visits. City are 1.25, and you can see why.

Having said that, Stoke's only goal did come in a 0-1 win back in 2014, and so when they do actually score, they can close out a result. The problem is, the Potters aren't in any sort of away form currently - Opta tell us they've lost five of their last six away trips and it doesn't get much tougher than this on the road in the Premier League.

Stoke are a huge 15.00 to upset the apple cart here. The Draw is currently priced at 7.20.

Over/Under 2.5 Goals

The market is expecting City to give Hughes' men a good old-fashioned shellacking here. You'll only get 1.48 on Over 2.5 Goals and it's clear that no-one is really expecting those goals to come from the away side. If you fancy Stoke to keep it tight then Unders is available at a punchy 2.94.

To Score 2 Goals or More

Sergio Aguero has been in the mood recently, notching five goals in his last three appearances. Since Gabriel Jesus was ruled out injured Aguero is the main man up front again and I was, as usual, impressed with his movement against Sunderland, especially for his goal. 3.75 on him to get two or more against a poor-on-the-road Stoke side is a decent bet.

Recommended Bet

Back Sergio Aguero to score two or more at 3.75