English Premier
2011-05-10 - Manchester City vs Tottenham Hotspur
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football : English Premier League
Saturday 10 May 2011 - Kickoff 8pm
This game is live on TV
Manchester City
Manchester City look very close to completing one of their major aims of the season and that is stamping their passport to at least the qualifying section of the Champions League next season. It will be interesting to see how they approach this game with the FA Cup Final looming large, but Roberto Mancini will be aware a win will seal his position at the top table for next season.
City will be 4 points clear of Liverpool with this being their 1 game in hand over the Reds. They do need 3 points to guarantee their place in the top 4 and have the possibility to wrap that up before the FA Cup Final with Stoke. City are 11-4-2 at the City of Manchester Stadium this season, scoring 30 goals and conceding 12. Only rivals Manchester United and Chelsea have won more home games this season.
The performance against Everton at the weekend was strong by City, but they still slipped to a 2-1 defeat, even though they should have been out of sight before conceding 2 late goals. The team have been very good at home in recent weeks, winning 14 of their last 15 in all competitions and they have only conceded 2 goals in their last 10 games there.
Carlos Tevez will need a late fitness test to determine his availability after Mancini claimed he would only consider the Argentinian for the Final if he could play in this game. Gareth Barry and Micah Richards are both available after missing the game at Everton.
Tottenham Hotspur
No matter what Harry Redknapp would have you believe, the chances of Tottenham Hotspur playing in the Champions League next season have been obliterated by a late season meltdown. Now they face a fight to even qualify for the Europa League, something I dont think will disappoint Redknapp too much if they fail to qualify for.
Tottenham will find themselves down in 6th place and 2 points behind Liverpool (who were leading 1-3 when I wrote this), although this will represent a game in hand over the Reds. However, Spurs also have to visit Anfield this weekend and it will be interesting to see how focused the side are.
Spurs are 6 points behind City in the race for the final Champions League place, but with a vastly inferior goal difference, it is unlikely that they will be able to overtake them at this late stage. Spurs are 6-5-6 away from home this season, scoring 23 goals and conceding 26.
The 1-1 draw with Blackpool 2 hours after City had dropped all 3 points at Goodison Park extended Tottenham's bad run of form to 1 win in 12 games in all competitions. They have taken just 9 points from their last 27 available in the League and this has cost them their chances of playing in the Champions League next season.
Tottenham have failed to win any of their 5 away games since beating Milan at the San Siro and taken just 2 points from trips to Blackpool, Wolves, Wigan and Chelsea.
Gareth Bale was ruled out for the rest of the season after being injured by Charlie Adam at the weekend. Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Tom Huddlestone are out while the likes of Peter Crouch and Luka Modric need late fitness tests.
Head to Head
Tottenham have lost just 1 of the last 14 Premier League meetings between the sides.
They had won 4 in a row before the 0-0 draw between the sides on the opening day of the season at White Hart Lane.
Tottenham have won 5 of their last 6 games at Manchester City, including a 0-1 win here last season that sealed the Champions League place.
Prediction
Tottenham Hotspur looked really tired and short of ideas at the weekend in their game with Blackpool and it seems the balancing act of Champions League football and Premier League football has taken its toll on the squad which is also dealing with a number of injuries.
With Bale out, the loss of Modric will be really tough to overcome, and I am not sure that the team is convinced they can do anything of note now concerning the last Champions League place. Harry Redknapp himself has not spoken too enthusiastically about the Europa League next season and I feel that has been taken on board by the players so I am not so sure they have much to give here.
It is hard to second guess Roberto Mancini and his ambitions in this game. I think I would suggest he is more keen to avoid loss than win the game and that has bothered me when coming to a prediction. With a home game with Stoke and a trip to Bolton left, Mancini may feel that a draw would set them up to finish in the top 4 rather than risk a defeat.
However, the players he picks will still want to prove to their manager that they should be in contention for a place in the Cup Final starting line up and that could tip the edge back in favour of Manchester City to win this game.
After considering my options here, I feel the best play may be Manchester City to win to nil. I have picked that as it has been a popular outcome in their recent home wins with only 2 goals conceded in their last 10 at home and I think that they will be set up to make life hard for Tottenham.
I do think they have a goal in them against this weakened Spurs team and the 3.4 on offer is too good to pass up.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Manchester City 2-0 Tottenham Hotspur
BEST BETTING TIP :
I'll back Manchester City WIN to NIL @ 3.4 Victor Chandler (2 UNITS)Follow me on Twitter- the direct link is below
