England Premier League
Tuesday 26th January 2021
Kick off at 8:15pm GMT
Venue: The Hawthorns
Match Preview:
West Bromwich Albion will be the huge outsiders for this game and yet late last year they went to the Etihad and came away with a 1-1 result. That was under Slaven Bilic who was then sacked for Sam Allardyce but it was a quite a result that no one was expecting.
One would feel that West Brom will set up much the same way for this game and defend deep in numbers. Make no mistake the Baggies are hoping at the very best to get a draw and quickly move on from this game. One of the problems of facing a club like Manchester City isn’t always that you could lose but you don’t want to do so by a big margin because of course goal difference could mean everything by the end of the season.
West Brom have lost 3 of their last four and are in 19th place. They did beat Wolves 10 days ago but followed that up by losing away to West Ham and the club have lost 12 games so far. At home the Baggies have just one win and have lost six from 9 games played, they are also conceding almost 3 goals per game at home.
Manchester City’s blushes were spared at the weekend as they beat Cheltenham 3-1 but the club looked like going out of the competition as they were losing 1-0 with just ten minutes left. In the league this is a huge game for the club as they would go top of the league surpassing Manchester United. Though United will play tomorrow.
City have been in stunning form winning their last five games and have earned 26 points from their last 30 available. They are the current favourites to win the league and on this form you can see why. The clubs last game was against Aston Villa and they won that 2-0. Away from home they have a 50% win rate which is good but not great for their standards but they have recently improved and have won their last 2 away games in a row and are unbeaten in their last 3 trips.
Team News:
West Bromwich Albion: The Baggies have no new injuries coming into this meeting.
Manchester City: Kevin De Bruyne has been ruled out for 4-6 weeks with a muscle injury. It is unsure if Sergio Aguero will make the game because of self isolating although he has served the right amount of time. Nathan Ake looks set to miss after being ruled out for an unknown reason for the past couple of games. Scott Carson is being pencilled in to return after self isolating. Kyle Walker is expected to play after what appears to be a minor leg injury but he will be assessed.
West Brom vs Man City Head to Head:
Earlier this season in the reverse fixture the clubs drew 1-1.
The clubs have not played at the Hawthorns since 2017 when Manchester City won 3-2.
When it comes to league matches only West Bromwich Albion have not beaten Manchester City since 2008 going back 19 games.
West Brom vs Man City Prediction:
Manchester City do have a few worries coming into this game. There is no confirmation that Sergio Aguero will be back but even if he is he will be rusty one would believe. Kevin De Bruyne’s injury is a huge blow and he looks set to miss at least a month just when the club need him. But there is so much back up quality at the team that manager Pep Guardiola will remain optimistic that they can continue their excellent form without him.
West Bromwich Albion will certainly take heart that they claimed a draw against the same team away from home but every game really is different and this remains a match, at least on paper, that looks to be different level and we should see only one winner. City have the motivation to go top of the league at least for 24 hours and just start to pile some pressure on Manchester United.
There isn’t value in backing City to win the game as they are odds of around 1.10 to win. Instead we will look into different goal markets. City haven’t scored nearly enough goals this season and it is in these type of games they could rectify that.
West Brom vs Man City Betting Tips:
Manchester City to score 3+ goals at 1.91
Anytime goalscorer: Phil Foden at 2.10
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