English Other
2011-09-21 - Manchester City vs Birmingham City
A Sports Betting Pick by Addicted
Football : English Carling Cup
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011, 7:45PM GMT
PREVIEW
Manchester City did an Arsenal over the weekend, going 2-0 up against Fulham only to allow the West London club to come back and grab a draw. Quite shocking considering the way they had gone about registering maximum points from their opening 5 games but with the club having played it's first Champions League game in midweek they were bound to have a blip sooner or later. After all, City did let Bolton score a couple of goals against them too, and are not used to this kind of schedule. What it does mean though is that the team will come out looking to make amends.
On Monday, the club announced plans for an 80 acre footballing academy and training complex near the Etihad Stadium. The short term plan is to buy their way to the top but clearly they have plans for the future too, as they look to build a youth system that will churn out tomorrows stars. Quite a statement of intent.
Birmingham will come here on the back of 2 horrible defeats. Having beaten Milwall 3-0, City entertained Portugese side Braga in the Europa League, only to lose 3-1. They failed to bounce back from that loss, as they went down 4-1 at Southampton. Birmingham are not having a good time as they lost their manager following their relegation from the Premier League and are now in 14th place in the Championship. They don't look likely to return next season if it continues like this, as they have won just 2 of their 6 league matches so far.
Mancini will give time to Tevez and Balotelli and those two could well grab a goal each before HT. When they played in the league on this pitch last season, it ended 0-0. Since then Birmingham have gotten much weaker, while Manchester City are much stronger, no matte what Mancini would have you believe.
BETTING VERDICT
It's the Carling Cup champions playing the FA Cup champions but there is a huge, huge gulf in class here. Manchester City have depth all over the pitch and know they have to win here to stop any kind of rut as they have had 2 draws in a row now.
I can see Manchester City having a right old go at Birmingham and almost certainly knocking them out of the tournament over 90 minutes. First team players will be eager to bounce back, while anyone given a chance to play and impress here will surely take their opportunity hungrily. I expect City to score a bunch and run away with it.
The Pick :
Manchester City
BEST BETTING TIP :
MAIN BET:Team Total Goals - Manchester City OVER 2.5 goals @ 1.80 (Bet365)
