England Premier League
Sunday 29th December 2019
Kick off at 6pm GMT
Venue: Etihad Stadium
Match Preview:
The devastating loss to Wolves in the week has in theory sealed Manchester City’s fate and it would take more than a miracle now not to see Liverpool as title winners.
What effect that loss will have on City is anyone’s guess, being 2-0 up and losing the match 3-2 is a massive sucker punch. Before the Wolves game City had a very distant dream to catch Liverpool but after that defeat surely it is all over now even if we are only halfway into the season.
Pep Guardiola’s champions are 14 points behind Liverpool and the Reds have a game in hand. The Wolves defeat was City’s 5th of the season already and compared to last season it is just too many. Even if City were to win every game until the end of the season they would end up with less points than when they won last season and the season before. This ship seems to have sailed.
At home City have won 6 games from 9, good for almost any other team but the bar to win the league has been raised ironically by themselves and losing 2 games already at home simply won’t cut it this season. City can’t even claim to be 2nd, that position still belongs to Leicester, though City still look favourites to secure that position.
Sheffield United are in 7th place with 29 points and the club quite rightly have ideas for a top 4 finish, if not a European place at least. Form in the first half of the season has been brilliant for the Blades and the question will be can they keep it up?
They drew their last game 1-1 against Watford but they come into this match having gone 4 games undefeated. Away from home Chris Wilder’s side are still undefeated with the majority of their games ending in draws with six so far. They have a mean defence on the road too, only conceding 7 goals.
Team News:
Manchester City: Ederson is suspended for this game after being sent off vs Wolves. Gabriel Jesus has an illness but could feature in this game, David Silva looks like he will miss another game due to his knock
Sheffield United: Simon Moore will be assessed after missing a few games with a groin injury
Man City vs Sheffield Utd Head to Head:
The teams have not played a league match since 2006 when this fixture ended 0-0.
Based on previous games this century there is a 66% chance to see under 2.5 goals.
The last time the teams played was in the FA Cup in 2008 when Sheffield United won 2-1.
Man City vs Sheffield Utd Prediction:
Sheffield United have already earned respect this season and this was never going to be an easy game for City. It feels like being an even harder one now. However one must remember that each time a team of Guardiola’s has fallen to a surprise defeat they have come back like a wounded animal in the next game, that is why we are backing City to get the win here. Value on backing the home side is close to zero so we will look at different markets. The team have to face the reality that the league is over but they will still want to finish 2nd and end the second half of the season strongly, like champions, and we feel they could well be ahead at the half time break. Raheem Sterling is also in good goal scoring form so could be worth backing to score in this game.
Man City vs Sheffield Utd Betting Tips:
1st half asian handicap (-0.5 Manchester City) at 1.625
Anytime goalscorer (Raheem Sterling) at 2.23
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