Live on Sky Sports 2: Sat 12:45. Man City (2/7 Hills) host Sunderland (14/1 Stan James) in Saturday’s early kick off. Sam Tomlinson previews the match.
As Manchester City are champions, on paper today’s trip to the Etihad Stadium should be Sunderland’s toughest fixture of the season and the odds reflect the scale of the task facing Martin O’Neill’s side, StanJames pricing the Black Cats at a massive 14/1 to cause what would be considered a huge upset.
City are odds-on at 2/7 with William Hill to secure all three points and that’s a price that will be included in many accumulators but Sunderland supporters will recall the corresponding fixture last season when their side were unfortunate to only come away with a point and Betvictor make them 5/1 to grab a share of the spoils on this occasion as well.
Of course a repeat of the 3-3 scoreline looks a touch ambitious at 80/1 (Ladbrokes) but some punters might fancy Betfred’s 10/1 for it to finish one-each, especially as the Black Cats have racked up plenty of draws this term.
As huge underdogs, O’Neill’s charges are given assistance in the handicaps; BetVictor hand them a goal start at 2/1 and with bet365, Sunderland kick-off with a two-goal cushion at odds of 10/11.
Nevertheless, the most likely outcome would appear to be a comfortable win for City who have proved pretty much invincible at home for the past few seasons. Ladbrokes have the best price about the Blues winning by two goals at 10/3 whilst Skybet quote them at 7/4 to win by three or more.
Despite Joe Hart’s heroics so far this term, his back four seem incapable of keeping a clean sheet and both teams to score looks worth a punt at 7/5 with Stan James along with bet365’s offer of 8/13 about a match tally of more than 2.5 goals.
William Hill mark both Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero at 7/2 to score first with Mario Balotelli 4/1. Steven Fletcher, meanwhile is 12/1 at Paddy Power to get the shock waves going and break the deadlock for the visitors.
Selection:
Manchester City to beat Sunderland by two goals: 10/3 Ladbrokes
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