Swansea have flirted with disaster this season and changing coaches three times has more than contributed to that but under Paul Clement things seem to have clicked into place. Swansea have won three out of their last four league matches including two big wins against Liverpool and Southampton. They’ll take the confidence earnt in those games and try to take it into the next match against Manchester City where they will face a very different kind of opponent.
Manchester City have not had the smooth ride that many people expected from them under Pep Guardiola. The ex-Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach has not adapted to the league straight away and I’m sure the team isn’t to his liking yet. Throw injuries to players like Gundogan into the mix, remember that the Manchester City defence has often been unreliable when Vincent Kompany wasn’t playing and perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that there have been struggles all round.
City can be an entertaining team to watch though and they still have some fantastic players. Give them space (as West Ham did in their last game) and City will tear into you.
Swansea beware.
The team from Wales’ second city have been known to give the opposition a bit too much space to do their work in. If they don’t close down those spaces then City will win this one comfortably. I’m sure that Paul Clement recognizes that though and will be training his players accordingly, he may not have had the easiest fo times as Derby coach but he’s got fantastic coaching credentials and there’s a reason why Carlo Ancelotti keeps employing him.
Statistically this game should end in a Manchester City win. They’re superior in pretty much every department from current form through to shots on goal and shots on target. They do have a significantly worse disciplinary record and if City do see another many being sent off (they’ve had 4 players shown the red card at the Etihad Stadium already this season) then that gives Swansea a chance.
Finding a sensible bet for this one isn’t particularly easy. Green listed bookmakers have marked the Match Odds market down so low I couldn’t even try to pretend there is some value there. Asian Handicap markets are also particularly light and although I’ve had some success backing the underdogs with a positive 1.5 handicap recently this is not a game I’m going to risk that one.
Instead I’ve been forced to look around at other markets and although I was tempted to go for Both Teams To Score (No) at evens with BetVictor I feel confident enough to push this one a bit further and go for Manchester City To Win To Nil at 2.15 (with Coral).
Swansea have only kept three clean sheets in this league campaign and Manchester City have failed to score in only 3 matches so this one looks right to me, combine that with very acceptable odds and I’m happy to place my bet on it.
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