English Premier
2011-09-24 - Manchester City vs Everton
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football : English Premier League
Saturday 24 September 2011 - Kickoff 12:45pm
This game is live on TV
Manchester City
Manchester City will now know how they have to juggle the squad around during the weeks to deal with Champions League commitments so it will be interesting to see how Roberto Mancini handles that. With a game against Bayern Munich on Tuesday, City will likely change personnel, but to what extent is to be seen.
The team are 2nd in the Premier League after dropping their first points of the season at Fulham last Sunday when losing a 2 goal lead. That means they are 4-1-0 on the season, but it is their form at the Etihad Stadium that has been impressive. This season they are 2-0-0 in the League, scoring 7 goals and keeping 2 clean sheets.
City have won 11 of their last 12 games at home, the only draw coming against Napoli on Match Day 1 of the Champions League. They have only conceded 2 goals in that run of games and have kept clean sheets in their last 4 at home in the Premier League.
Unsurprisingly, Roberto Mancini made a number of changes to the side that took to the field against Birmingham in the Carling Cup on Wednesday. The likes of Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany, Edin Dzeko, Yaya Toure, Samir Nasri and David Silva will all be hoping for returns to the starting line up, but Nigel de Jong remains on the sidelines.
Everton
Everton have made a brighter than expected start to the season, but David Moyes is cautioning against too much hope for the supporters as the squad is small and stretched. With Mikel Arteta sold in the window, and Louis Saha seemingly in the doghouse, a few more youngsters are bound to be given their opportunities at Goodison Park.
The team are 6th in the Premier League having picked up 7 points from their opening 4 games of the season. They have picked up from a disappointing defeat in their first game to record a 2-1-1 record. Everton have won their only away game in the League this season when they beat Blackburn 0-1 after the home side missed two penalties.
They are unbeaten in 5 games in all competitions, winning 3 of those games and drawing the other 2 in normal time. Everton only won 2 of their last 10 Premier League games away at the back end of last season although winning their only one this season with only their 2nd clean sheet in 16 away games in the League.
Victor Anichebe is out, but the Everton players could be a little tired after playing for 120 minutes in the Carling Cup on Wednesday. David Moyes had a fairly strong team out against West Brom in that competition, but Sylvain Distin, Tim Howard and Tim Cahill should all be expected to start on Saturday.
Head to Head
To say Everton are Manchester City's bogey team is no understatement considering they have won 7 of the last 8 Premier League meetings between the sides, including doing the double over City last season.
Surprisingly, Everton have now won the last 4 games when they have visited Eastlands.
Prediction
It is hard to see Everton having the same success against Manchester City on the home sides current form, but there is no way I am paying on odds of 1.45 to find out.
The recent record shows that Everton get really up for playing their rich rivals and have the work ethic and belief to cause a surprise against them. However, they have been weakened by the fact they have lost Arteta to Arsenal and they have also had a number of players who will have just had to play 120 minutes and tiredness could be a factor in the early Saturday kick off.
Manchester City are bound to make changes with a big game in Munich on Tuesday night, but I still think there is enough quality in the squad to give them the advantage. Roberto Mancini will know he cannot afford to drop too many home points if he really wants to challenge in the Premier League so I can see them playing their better attacking players.
The head to head record scares me off backing City at a short price so instead I will focus on Sergio Aguero to continue his fine beginning to life in England. He has already scored 4 goals in his 2 appearances at the Etihad Stadium, while also banging in goals at Tottenham and Fulham and his scoring success very much reminds me of what Cristiano Ronaldo achieved at Old Trafford in his last 3 seasons there.
I expect Mancini will play Aguero to try and get the points wrapped up before resting him for the game on Tuesday and at prices of 1.92, I will go for the Argentine to keep scoring.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Manchester City 2-1 Everton
