English Premier
2025-04-02 - Manchester City vs Leicester City
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Wednesday 2nd April 2025 - Kick Off 7:45pm
Manchester City
Pep Guardiola was clearly very pleased with the second half effort produced by Manchester City to turn around their FA Cup Quarter Final and keep silverware on the table in what has been a disappointing season overall. The manager had stated that his team did not 'deserve' any bonuses that may be attached to competing in the Club World Cup this summer, but described his players as 'legendary' after the win at the Vitality Stadium.
Getting back into the Champions League is also a big ambition for Pep Guardiola the rest of the way and Manchester City are 5th in the Premier League table and a point behind Chelsea. The expectation is that the top five will be rewarded with a place in the Champions League next season, but Guardiola will want Manchester City to finish as high as they possibly can after a poor defence of the title. The side have a 8-3-3 record at the Etihad Stadium in the Premier League this season where they have scored 30 goals.
Manchester City have lost 1 of their last 5 games in all competitions and have won 3 times in that run, although the League form has suffered around the FA Cup run. In fact Manchester City have won 1 of their last 4 Premier League games, while they have failed to win either of their last 2 League fixtures at the Etihad Stadium against Liverpool and Brighton.
It was not all positive news on Sunday in the win at Bournemouth after Erling Haaland picked up an injury that leaves him doubtful. Oscar Bobb is edging closer to a return, while a number of defensive reinforcements are hoping to return before the end of the month.
Leicester City
The decision to replace Steve Cooper with Ruud van Nistelrooy may have gone down very well with the Leicester City fans back in the Autumn, but we have reached Spring in England and relegation feels inevitable now. At the time of Cooper's Sacking, Leicester City had not been in the bottom three, but his connections with East Midlands rivals Nottingham Forest could not be shaken off and it may have proved costly.
Nothing can be sure about where Leicester City would have been if they had retained the services of Steve Cooper, but his experiences with Nottingham Forest may have been very important as the losses piled up. Now Leicester City are 19th in the Premier League table and 9 points from safety with just nine games left. The Foxes have a 2-2-10 away record in the top flight.
Leicester City have lost 14 of their last 16 games in all competitions and one of the exceptions was in the FA Cup against Championship Queens Park Rangers. Confidence has to be dented by losing 7 games in a row, while the side have lost 4 away games in a row in all competitions since upsetting Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League.
Ricardo Pereira could be available for selection this week.
Head to Head
A goal in each half helped Manchester City to a comfortable 0-2 win at the King Power Stadium earlier this season.
In September 2020, Leicester City beat Manchester City 2-5 here, but they have lost both visits to the Etihad Stadium since then.
Prediction
There is no doubt that the absence of Erling Haaland for several weeks would impact Manchester City, but they should have far too much for Leicester City without their leading goalscorer.
Winning on Sunday afternoon at Bournemouth in the FA Cup really pleased Pep Guardiola, especially as his team had to show character to come from behind, and it may just offer Manchester City some momentum.
Picking up trophies will always be important, even if the FA Cup would have been third in the list of priorities back in August. A big Semi Final is coming up, but it is important for Manchester City to not take their eye off the ball in the Premier League having won 1 of their last 4 top flight fixtures.
Those results have piled up the contenders behind Manchester City in the race for the Champions League places and it is very important for Guardiola's team to take advantage when they are presented with the 'easier' fixtures.
It sounds disrespectful to describe any opponent as 'easy', but there is little doubt that the bottom three teams have been well short of the Premier League quality over the course of the season. Leicester City started well under Ruud van Nistelrooy, but the Dutchman has shown his inexperience as a manager as the losses have piled up with little sign of things being turned around.
Simply put, Leicester City concede far too many goals and do not score enough and that is not going to win many football matches.
7 losses in a row has helped evaporate any lingering hope and Leicester City may arrive at the Etihad Stadium looking to do a containing job. No Erling Haaland will help, but this Manchester City team still have far too much quality in the final third and a comfortable home victory is still expected, even without their Norwegian Number Nine.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Manchester City 3-0 Leicester City
