Man City vs. Leicester Odds, Predictions & Betting Tips
Saturday's Premier League action closes with Manchester City hosting struggling Leicester City at the Etihad live on Sky Sports with a 17:30 kick off. Dean Woodward has provided a preview for the game as well as two data-driven tips.
Ten consecutive wins in all competitions is on the horizon for Manchester City as they take on 19th place Leicester on home turf. They have been in devastating form lately, scoring thirty-four goals across their last nine matches (all wins), including the most recent 3-0 win against German maestros Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Pep is known for rotating his deep squad of talent, but hot on the heels of Premier League leaders Arsenal, he may opt for his best XI again to close the gap to just three points with a win. Foden remains out after recent surgery, with the rest of the squad at Pep's disposal.
Leicester are in dire straits right now, with eight losses in their last nine competitive matches, the drop is looking more and more likely after every game. A tenth loss in eleven looks likely for the Foxes, but with a much greener stretch of fixtures thereafter with Wolverhampton, Leeds, Everton and Fulham they will be hopeful of picking up some valuable points.
Harvey Barnes picked up a hamstring issue last time out at Bournemouth and was forced off which is a big loss for the Foxes who will be looking to counter the high line of Man City on Saturday. Dewsbury-Hall returns from suspension and is likely to start in midfield, with Youri Tielemans remains sidelined with an ankle issue.
Manchester City possible starting lineup:
Ederson; Lewis, Akanji, Dias, Ake; De Bruyne, Rodri, Gundogan; Mahrez, Haaland, Grealish
Leicester City possible starting lineup:
Iversen; Castagne, Evans, Faes, Kristiansen; Dewsbury-Hall, Ndidi; Ricardo, Maddison, Tete; Vardy
Man City 1st half result and BTTS NO
With all top vs bottom clashes we get extremely short priced favourites, as arguably the most destructive team in Europe take one of the most out of form teams in Europe, City are priced as short as 1/7.
Getting them onside is the obvious play and by backing them to win the first half and to keep a clean sheet we get a rather appealing 11/8. City have led at half time in nine of their last eleven matches, including against the likes of Bayern Munich, Newcastle and RB Leipzig twice. They have now kept a clean sheet in six of their last eight games with most teams struggling to even lay a glove on them.
When Man City travelled to Southampton last weekend, the Saints managed just four shots only registering one shot on target. Even Liverpool who visited the Etihad the week before managed identical stats of just four shots with one on target. This kind of dominance is to be expected here again on home soil and it's hard to see Leicester’s current form giving them any chance in this game.
The German midfielder is given such freedom to support attacks in this dominant side and I expect him to have plenty of touches in and around Leicester's box.
He has registered twelve shots across his last four games, hitting the target five times and finding the net on two occasions.
If Pep opts for a similar set up as in recent games, I fully expect Gundogan to continue cropping up in these goal scoring positions and at 3/1 (an implied chance of just 25%) I think there's a bit of value against a Leicester side whose last clean sheet came against Walsall back in January.
