English Premier
2012-04-14 - Norwich City vs Manchester City
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Saturday 14 April 2012 - Kick Off 12:45pm
This game is live on TV
Norwich City
Norwich City are safe for another season in the Premier League, but Carrow Road is going to be loud and passionate and the home team would love nothing more than to surprise their critics one more time and put the spanner back in the Manchester City title challenge. While some teams are getting to the stage where they are planning where to go on their Summer holidays, the likes of Norwich are going to give every game due care as they won't be taking any Premier League games as a given.
The team are 10th in the Premier League and have a genuine chance to finish in the top half of the table and all credit has to be given to Paul Lambert. They have a solid 6-6-4 record at Carrow Road this season, scoring 25 goals and conceding 21, making them the top home scorers in the bottom half of the table.
An impressive 1-2 win at White Hart Lane over Tottenham Hotspur will have surprised a lot of people, including myself, and they have now won 2 of their last 4 League games and only fallen to 1 defeat. That has been a healthy return to form for a team that had fallen to 4 defeats in 5 games previously in all competitions. Norwich are unbeaten in their last 3 home games in the League since a late loss to Manchester United.
Marc Tierney is out for the rest of the season, while Zak Whitbread misses out. Kyle McNaughton is available after missing the win at Tottenham due to being ineligible to play against his parent club.
Manchester City
Manchester City are right back in the title race following Wednesday night when they managed to thrash West Brom at home on the same night that Manchester United were losing at Wigan Athletic. However, they will need to improve their away form if they are to recover the 5 points on United during these last few weeks of the season.
City are 2nd in the Premier League table and now trail United by 5 points as well as leading them by 3 goals in the goal difference department, something that could still make the difference between winning the title and not. They have a 7-4-5 away record this season, scoring 28 goals and conceding 16, but recent form has not been good.
A recent look at the results shows the side had failed to win in 3 games before the victory of West Brom, while they have really struggled away from home. They have won just 3 of their last 12 away games in all competitions, and City have won just 2 of their last 10 away from home in the Premier League after losing 1-0 at Arsenal. City have won just 1 of their last 5 away League games, losing 3 of those.
Mario Balotelli remains suspended, but Yaya Toure could return having missed the win over West Brom through injury. Carlos Tevez is likely to start up front again after scoring against the Baggies.
Head to Head
Manchester City beat Norwich City 5-1 at the Etihad Stadium earlier this season, but they have not played in this part of East Anglia for 7 seasons.
On that occasion, Manchester City won 2-3, although they had failed to win in 8 at Carrow Road before that result.
Prediction
This is a really tough game for Manchester City considering they will be once again under pressure to get a win and they have really struggled away from home in recent weeks. Swansea, Sunderland, West Brom and Stoke City have all managed to avoid defeat against City over the last 10 away games City have played in the Premier League, and Norwich have made it tough for sides to come here.
However, my concern for Norwich is that they have generally been found out by the better teams in the League, with Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Manchester United all earning wins here, even if United left it very late to do so.
I expect Norwich to get in Manchester City's faces early and try and take advantage of any nerves that may be in the team. The short odds on quotes for the City win look ridiculously short, although I think they may be too strong for Norwich, but I am going to go back to my thinking that Norwich will start off strong in this game.
Before the win over West Brom, Manchester City had actually fallen behind in SEVEN straight games in all competitions, and they have actually conceded the first goal in their last 5 away games.
While City have lost 3 of the last 7 games when they had conceded the first goal, they had actually managed to avoid defeat despite that fact in 4 in a row before the game against Arsenal.
Norwich themselves went in front against Arsenal before losing, and I think the 4.50 offered by Ladbrokes that Manchester City come from behind and win or draw looks the most tempting way for me to get involved in the match.
I just don't think Norwich have enough to win this game, and I don't feel comfortable taking them not to lose after the Manchester City performance on Wednesday, so I will just take a recent trend and hope it shows up again.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Norwich City 1-1 Manchester City
