MAN CITY meet West Brom on Tuesday night at The Etihad. Brett Curtis (@Brett_Curtis92) is on-hand to deliver his favourite fancies.
Manchester City vs West Brom | Tuesday 15th September 2020, 20:00 | Amazon Prime
Manchester City take on West Brom at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday, with Pep Guardiola’s side unsurprisingly heavily odds-on to win the match. With City requiring wins to get themselves back into the title picture, I expect them to live up to their billing on Tuesday night with a comfortable victory.
Having set a new club record by keeping a sixth consecutive clean sheet in all competitions against Manchester United on Saturday, I can see that run extending against the Baggies.
Slaven Bilic’s side have failed to score in six of their 12 league matches this season, including in three of their last five away games, with City keeping clean sheets in five of their last seven home games in all competitions (with Mohamed Salah’s penalty the only time their defence has been breached in the league since the defensive debacle against Leicester in September).
Indeed, there has been a clear emphasis from Guardiola in terms of adding protecting against opposition counter-attacks, with City less attractive on the eye as a result.
However, it is making them more effective, which is all he and City fans will ultimately care about. Five of their last six home games have also been won by two or more goals (with the Liverpool clash once again the exception), so I’m keen on backing City to beat WBA by two or more goals while keeping another clean sheet at odds of 19/20 (William Hill).
With City’s emphasis on shutting opposition counter-attacks in mind, I’m interested by the fact West Brom are the second most fouled team in the league so far this season.
Only Tottenham have not picked up at least one yellow card against West Brom in their 12 games this season, with West Brom picking up at least one themselves in all games except against Brighton, meaning 10 of their 12 Premier League games has seen both teams pick up at least a card each.
City, meanwhile, have picked up 15 cautions in their 11 league games this season.
Peter Bankes officiates the meeting between the two sides. He has shown each Premier League side at least one yellow card each in nine of his last 12 games at the top level, averaging 3.53 yellow cards per game in his fledgling top flight career.
As a price play, then, I’m happy to back both teams to receive a card each at evens (bet365). It’s very rare you will receive odds this generous simply for one card for each team, and I assume it has been priced this way due to City’s expected dominance, but I’ll chance my luck that Guardiola’s side will get punished at least once by Bankes for illegally stopping a counter-attack.
Best Bets
Manchester City vs West Brom – Manchester City -1 handicap and West Brom Under 0.5 Goals (19/20 William Hill)
Manchester City vs West Brom – Both Teams Over 0 Cards (1/1 Bet365)
