Manchester City v Southampton: Pep's men to power on

Manchester City v Southampton
Wednesday, 20:00

Winning streak goes on

It's a hard-to-fathom 18 straight wins for Man City in all comps and and 11 on the bouncein the Premier League.

That superb record came under pressure at Huddersfield on Sunday as City found themselves 1-0 down.

But their resilience was shown with a second-half turnaround and, to be honest, an evening kick-off at a bouncing Huddersfield (where Man Utd had lost) on the back of a Champions League win was a recipe for awkwardness.

Rather than a sign that City are creaking, it was another tough hurdle cleared and there's no reason why they shouldn't use the comeback as a slingshot for another dominant win.

Saints boosted

After a few murmurs of discontent, Southampton have disappeared into mid-table obscurity after a convincing 4-1 home win over Everton at the weekend.

The Toffees, who had just been thrashed 5-1 at home by Atalanta three days earlier, were ideal opponents in hindsight and Saints needed the win after four losses and two draws in their previous six outings.

Mauricio Pellegrino had made them hard to score against although they shipped three at Anfield in their only real away test so far and the concession of eight goals in their last six matches suggests there are enough weaknesses for City to prey on.

This could be a long night for the travelling Southampton fans.

City cruise expected

It's pretty easy to guess the City price of 1.21 and, on the stats, you'd be a backer if playing at such odds.

The draw is 8.40 while Southampton are 16.50 to do what no other team has done this season and condemn Pep Guardiola's men to defeat.

Saints actually got a point from this fixture last season when Guardiola was trying to work his way through a first sticky patch in English football (City were winless in four and had just come off a chastening 4-0 defeat at his former club Barcelona).

Previously, City had won the last six at home while the previous meeting between the pair saw Vincent Kompany, Leroy Sane and Sergio Aguero score second-half goals in a 3-0 win at St. Mary's.

Total goals

As usual, to get the Unders/Overs balance, you need to jump an extra goal.

Over 3.5 is 1.88, with Under 3.5 1.90.

Slightly surprisingly given the perception, Over 3.5 has lost in five of City's seven away games so would be a poor bet on the road.

But at the Etihad, their goal make-ups in PL home games read 2, 5, 5, 9, 3, 4.

On those numbers, getting north of evens on 3.5 would be fair enough.

Against that is Southampton's battling away record which shows just three goals scored and six conceded and only two defeats - the same as Man Utd.

City won't let up

Trying to get the basic City win price up to something reasonable doesn't work with a simple Man City/Man City double result as that only gets us to 4/7.

But there's a big leap to 13/10 on the Sportsbook if we back Man City to win both halves.

That's landed in their last five home Premier League games v Liverpool, Crystal Palace, Stoke, Burnley and Arsenal and they've plundered 24 goals at the Etihad (average of six per game) in the PL.

Given that they've smashed in 15 second-half goals, it seems daft to settle for them just keeping hold of an interval lead (i.e. backing HT/FT).

Instead, take them to extend it after the break as that's when they do the bulk of their scoring as the opposition chase and gaps appear.

Ref watch

Lancashire ref Paul Tierney gets just his fourth Premier League game of the season.

In his previous three, his card make-ups were 4, 6, 4 which is much higher than his overall average (3.3 yellows per match) compiled over 10 games across the Prem, Championship and League Two.

Southampton are the cleanest team in the top flight with just 11 bookings in 13 games while, surprisingly, Man City are fourth in the bad boys charts with 24 yellows and two reds.

Recommended Bets
2pts Man City to Win Both Halves at 13/10