PREMIER LEAGUE: The Striker looks ahead to Thursday’s Premier League game between MANCHESTER CITY V TOTTENHAM with FACTMAN stats and a recommended BETDAQ bet.
MANCHESTER CITY V TOTTENHAM
8pm We have a massive Premier League game on Thursday night as Manchester City host Spurs! After losing the Manchester Derby at the weekend, Manchester City desperately need a bounce back win here, and they are trading heavy odds on favourites on BETDAQ Betting Exchange. City are trading as short as 1.4 at the time of writing, and although on paper this is a big game, Spurs have so many issues coming into this game it’s hard to argue with the City price.
Heading into last weekend, I said that Manchester United and Spurs were going to have a massive impact on the title race because they both played City and Arsenal within seven days. Manchester United are away to Arsenal on Sunday afternoon, and with United beating City and Spurs losing to Arsenal, that has meant Arsenal now have an eight point lead over City – what could it be at the end of this week?
Although it was bitterly disappointing to lose the Manchester Derby, I think the performance from City was even more disappointing. They created their lowest xG figure of the Premier League season so far, and they were totally outplayed by United. It’s very interesting to see the reaction of football fans online after the results in the big games. When Haaland was scoring hat-tricks nearly every weekend he was going to break all Premier League records – how people are questioning if he has an “overall negative impact” on City because he doesn’t do much work off the ball. Things more fast in football!
Speaking of things moving fast in football, what about Conte and Spurs? They are dropping down the table, Conte looks tired and stressed – if results continue to be poor I can easily see things blowing up. They are now five points behind Newcastle and Manchester United in the Top Four race, with United having a game in hand too. Spurs have just conceded so many sloppy goals this season, and they seemingly only come to life when they go behind.
As the lads in the Sky Sports studio said, it’s all well and good playing good football but what’s it worth when you’re already 2-0 down and the game is gone? Spurs have produced some entertaining comebacks against the smaller sides, but the top sides close out games and that’s what Arsenal did the weekend. For Spurs fans, they will go into this game with the hope that they have a very good record against City. They have won the last two meetings, they’ve actually won four of the last five Premier League meetings and we all remember Spurs famously knocking City out of the Champions League too.
I’m happy to stay out of the match odds market here because I feel the 1.4 is the correct price on City. It’s hard to argue that they should be shorter, and while Spurs have been average this season they usually save their best performances for City. That being said, it’s hard to back Spurs at the moment given how many goals they are conceding and I feel it’s wise to turn to the side markets. This game screams goals, and we could easily see another 3-2 between these sides. Over 2.5 goals is trading 1.57 and that is big enough to back in my opinion. City will play a very open game with home advantage, and that should really open up the game. I can see Spurs having success too if they went two or three goals down, Both Teams To Score is also worthy of consideration at 1.86 but Over 2.5 goals is a confident bet.
The Striker Says:
Three points win Over 2.5 goals at 1.57 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/MciTot
FACTMAN MATCH STATS
● Manchester City have lost four of their last five Premier League games against Tottenham (W1), as many as they had in their previous 19 against them (W12 D3).
● Tottenham won home and away against Manchester City in the Premier League last season, accounting for 67% of the Citizens’ total league defeats. They could become the first ever team to win three consecutive league games against a side managed by Pep Guardiola.
● Tottenham have won four of their last nine away league games against reigning top-flight champions (D2 L3), as many as they had in their previous 49 such games. Four of Man City’s 29 defeats as reigning Premier League champions have come against Tottenham – no side has beaten them more.
● Man City have failed to win both of their last two Premier League games at the Etihad Stadium (D1 L1); they last went three without a win at home in the league in December 2016 (a run of four), which remains the only time Pep Guardiola has failed to win 3+ consecutive home league matches in his managerial career.
● Tottenham have scored nine goals in their last three Premier League away games, two more than they had in their first six on the road this term (7). Following their 4-0 win at Crystal Palace last time out, they’re looking to win consecutive away league games for the first time since April last season.
● Manchester City lost 2-1 at Manchester United last time out, last losing consecutive league games in December 2018. Having lost against Southampton in the League Cup before that, they could lose three in a row in all competitions within the same season for the first time since April 2018.
● Man City manager Pep Guardiola has lost six of his 15 meetings with Tottenham in all competitions (W7 D2) – he’s only lost more often against Chelsea (8), Liverpool (8) and Manchester United (7) in his managerial career.
● Man City manager Pep Guardiola has lost three of his five meetings with Tottenham’s Antonio Conte in all competitions (W2) – among managers he’s faced at least five times in his career (excl. Barcelona B), Conte is the only one he’s lost more than half of his games against (60%).
● Man City’s Erling Haaland has failed to score in his last two Premier League appearances, the first time he’s gone more than one game without a goal in the competition. Only once in the big five European leagues has he gone 3+ games without scoring, a run of five with Borussia Dortmund between March and April last season.
● Tottenham striker Harry Kane is two goals away from becoming the third player to score 200 Premier League goals, along with Alan Shearer (260) and Wayne Rooney (208). Three of his four goals against Man City in the competition have been at the Etihad Stadium, including a brace in Spurs’ 3-2 win last season.
