English Premier
2012-04-11 - Manchester City vs West Brom
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Wednesday 11 April 2012 - Kick Off 7:45pm
Manchester City
The Premier League title is not quite gone for Manchester City this season, but they have a lot of points to make up on their local rivals Manchester United and cannot afford to drop any more points at home. The defeat at Arsenal on Sunday looks to be the final nail in the coffin for City, but they know things can change if they can build any kind of pressure on United ahead of the Manchester Derby at the end of the month.
It has been quite a stunning collapse of form that has left City 8 points behind United with just 18 points available this season. It has really been their away form that has let them down and they are 15-1-0 at the Etihad Stadium, scoring a League high 47 goals and conceding a League low 10.
City have failed to win any of their last 3 Premier League games since a come from behind 2-1 win over Chelsea. That run includes the only League at home that they have failed to win when they recovered from 1-3 down to draw 3-3 with Sunderland around ten days ago. City had won 7 in a row here in all competitions before that draw, and they have continued scoring goals with at least 2 in each of those games.
Mario Balotelli is suspended after being sent off at the Emirates Stadium and Roberto Mancini has made it clear that the Italian will not play again this season. Yaya Toure looks set to miss out with the knee injury that forced him off early on Sunday, while David Silva may also miss out with his knee injury.
West Brom
Roy Hodgson saw his side beat Blackburn Rovers 3-0 at home over the Easter weekend and that has pretty much secured their future as a Premier League club for another season. Hodgson will not want his side to mail it in for the last few games and I expect he will set his team out to be hard to beat and to try and make Manchester City a little nervous and tense.
The Baggies are 13th in the Premier League table and they have an 11 point gap between themselves and the teams in the relegation scrap. While they haven't reached the 40 point mark that everyone looks at when the season begins, they look pretty safe already. The team is 6-4-6 away from home this season, scoring 21 goals and conceding 24.
West Brom had failed to win in 4 Premier League games, losing 3 of those, before the win over Blackburn. That has relieved them from any last minute tension this season, but they will want to get back to the away form that had helped them so much earlier this season. West Brom have failed to win any of their last 3 away games since the 1-5 win at Wolves, and they have lost 2 of those.
Jerome Thomas is going to be absent again and will join Zoltan Gera, James Morrison and Steven Reid in the treatment room.
Head to Head
West Brom earned a 0-0 draw with Manchester City at the Hawthornes earlier this season, a result that showed the first chinks in the armour for City.
City have won their last 2 home games in the League against the Baggies, including a 3-0 win last season thanks to a Carlos Tevez hat-trick.
Prediction
It is hard for anyone to truly read what is going through the Manchester City players minds as they look at the Premier League table and see themselves 8 points from Manchester United.
They may be feeling a little sorry for themselves and collapse down the stretch, or they may be given a bit of mental freedom from all the pressure they have clearly been facing in recent weeks and come out with an impressive performance.
City have still been scoring heavily at home, although they have not been at the races when it comes to their defensive schemes, and I think they will at least keep some semblance of pressure on United by winning this game.
West Brom were comfortably beaten at Manchester United and Everton in recent away games, while they avoided defeat at Wigan Athletic in a game they could easily have lost going away.
They may just take their eye off the ball after an impressive 3-0 win over Blackburn Rovers secured their place in this League for another season and they have had a hard time at City in their last 2 visits here.
I am slightly concerned that City are missing two big pieces of their team in Yaya Toure and David Silva, but I just feel the lack of pressure on them will see them through in this game.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Manchester City 3-0 West Brom
