Manchester City vs Stoke City
It’s okay if you are stoked for this Premier League Thursday thriller at the Etihad, it’s the beginning of another manic week for Manchester City after all.
Before Pep Guardiola and his men visit Middlesbrough for the FA Cup quarter-final football games, they will first host Mark Hughes’ Stoke squad a day earlier.
And what a treat it is for City’s online betting followers as the Potters—who just defeated the Boro 2-0 last Saturday—seem to be the perfect test for Manchester City before they head to the Riverside Stadium.
Betting odds suggest a comfortable victory for the Manchester outfit – with 1X2 odds giving 1.23 for a City win, a far cry from the 11.00 given to Stoke – and for a good reason.
City clearly have the advantage when it comes to scoring as they are one of only five league teams with more than 50 goals at this point of the season. It also doesn’t look that they are missing the services of the injured Gabriel Jesus with Sergio Aguero continuously showing and proving his quality.
Add it to the fact that they defeated these opponents in their previous two meetings, including an astounding 4-0 victory at home last year.
However, as huge as the difference might be, we all know there are no easy games in the English top flight, especially against a Stoke team that have already kept eight clean sheets this campaign. Not to mention that they have only conceded more than one goal in one occasion in their last seven matches.
Sure enough, defence will be the key factor for Stoke in this matchup, but they also won’t lack the firepower with leading scorer Joe Allen in good shape and Marko Arnautovic now with five goals after recently hitting a first-half brace. There is also Saido Berahino who could just surprise in his quest for his first goal at the potteries.
Stoke will undoubtedly pose a huge challenge as they look for a respectable finish in the league. Nevertheless, with their table position at stake, Man City can’t be expected to hold back either even if it means little rest for them.
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Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
