Born in the south east of Ireland, Simon put his life-long love of football to good use when he started a successful independent blog in 2010. That opened up an alternative route to a career in journalism, and having had work published across a number of sites and publications, Simon joined the staff at Spotlight Sports Group in 2018.
Manchester City and Watford meet at Wembley Stadium on Saturday to contest the 138th FA Cup Final in a battle that looks heavily-weighted in the Citizens favour.
As underdogs, the Hornets can approach the game in London without the pressure and burden of expectation – something that should allow them to largely play without fear.
However, the prospect of facing two of City’s superstars in particular is certain to rapidly spread panic through the Watford ranks like a sky-blue contagion.
Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling both hold remarkable individual goal-scoring records for City against a Watford team that the newly crowned Premier League champions usually put the sword with ease.
City have beaten Watford in each of their last 10 meeting with them since 2014, and the aforementioned attacking duo have played major roles in maintaining the club’s perfect recent win rate.
Centre-forward Aguero has scored an eye-watering 10 goals in his last 7 appearances against the Hornets, while winger Raheem Sterling has rattled the net 5 times in his last 3 games against them.
Both free-scoring predators will be rubbing their hands at the thought of facing a defence that they so regularly dismantle on Saturday, and with that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of Aguero and Sterling betting specials for the game.
Check them out below:
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Goals
As we detailed above, Sergio Aguero has notched an incredible 10 goals in his last 7 appearances against Watford since 2014, and armed with that record, the explosive Argentinean striker will be confident of registering again this weekend.
You can back Aguero to score anytime at 4/6 with bet365, though we think there is value in backing him to score 2 or more goals at 11/4 with the same bookmaker.
Aguero has scored 2 more goals on 3 separate occasions against Watford during his Manchester City career, a haul that includes 2 hattricks against the Hornets in 2014 and 2017.
We also like the look of Aguero to score first at 11/4 with bet365 – 10 or 47% of the 21 Premier League goals he scored this season were the first goals scored in their respective games.
Raheem Sterling’s superb strike-rate against the Hornets also makes him well worth considering at 1/1 with bet365 to score anytime in Saturday’s FA Cup Final.
Sterling smashed home a superb hattrick against Watford as recently as March in City’s 3-1 Premier League triumph over the Hertfordshire outfit at the Etihad Stadium.
The 24-year old wide forward is also worth backing in the assists market. To complement his goal-scoring exploits, Sterling also finished the year as the Citizen’s joint leading assists provider alongside Leroy Sane, laying on 10 Premier League goals for his teammates since August last year.
We think Sterling is great value at 7/4 with bet365 to put his creative powers to good use again by notching over 0.5 assists against Watford at Wembley.
Shots
Having hit the 30-goal mark for City in 2018/19, Sergio Aguero is the club’s leading marksman this season, though his Premier League total for the campaign left him 1 short of the joint Golden Boot winners Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Aguero’s consistent ability to find the net is fuelled by his equally prolific attempts figures. The 30-year old hitman averaged 3.9 shots per game for City in his Premier and Champions League appearances this term, and Aguero hit 4 or more shots in a staggering 19 separate fixtures in those major competitions.
Aguero is certain to be at the business end of City’s relentless attacking play again on Saturday, making him great value at 4/7 with bet365 to rack up over 3.5 attempts on goal.
Raheem Sterling is also priced generously in the same market at 8/15 to hit over 2.5 shots on the Watford goal.
Sterling’s average shots per game figure for the Premier League season sits just below that number on 2.3, though it’s worth noting that the England international had one of his most productive matches of the season when he last faced Watford in March.
Sterling racked up 5 attempts on the Hornets goal at the Etihad that day, which was his joint highest shots total stat in an individual league game last season.
Defenders
On Saturday, members of Watford’s rearguard are faced with the undesirable assignment of marking and attempting to limit the influence of both Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling.
In central areas Hornets’ stalwart Craig Cathcart will hope to avoid being run silly by Aguero’s clever movement and penetrative bursts, and the Northern Ireland international will be preparing himself for a busy day at Wembley.
Cathcart averaged 1.4 tackles per game for Watford in the Premier League in 2018/19, though it’s interesting to note that he made 2 or more tackles in 16 of this 35 starts for the Hornets.
With Watford expected to be on the back foot from the off on Saturday, we think bet365’s 4/5 odds on Cathcart making over 1.5 tackles against Aguero, Sterling and the rest of City’s players looks a great price.
On the flanks, veteran fullback Jose Holebas will have his work cut-out trying to keep City’s rapid frontline quiet. The 34-year old has already been booked a bone-crunching 13 times in total for Watford this term, and we think his ageing legs will have a tough time keeping pace with Aguero and Sterling in the Hornets’ defensive third.
That makes him a great bet at 11/8 with bet365 to pick up his 14th yellow card of the season.
Holebas features in our article detailing the 5 key individual battles that could decide Saturday’s FA Cup Final – check it out here!
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