Stoke vs Manchester City Betting Tips

Stoke’s 2-0 win in midweek against Sheffield Wednesday will have gone some way to repairing the pride that was damaged last weekend when they fell to an unexpected 2-0 defeat to the lowly Sunderland.

This defeat brought an end to their excellent run of results that had seen them win seven of their last nine matches and lose just once.

This run did do the world of good to their Premier League position, and they are now sitting in 12^th position in the table despite failing to win any of their first six league games.

Manchester City returned to the top of the table last weekend as the rest of the top four dropped points. They are now top of the pile, with their goal difference advantage proving the difference between them and 2^nd placed Leicester.

This was thanks to their 3-1 win over Southampton, which they followed up in midweek with a 4-1 League Cup win over Hull City.

Their dominance is somewhat surprising given their injury problems, and it isn’t set to improve this weekend either. Joe Hart, Pablo Zabaleta, Vincent Kompany, and Samir Nasri are all out injured, with Elaquim Mangala joining them through suspension.

Manchester City’s overall form isn’t actually as good as their opponents, with their back to back victories this week being their only wins from their last five outings.

Stoke’s defence will be key for this game. They have only conceded six goals in their last 11 games and only one of their last 11 matches has seen over two goals.

If Stoke show up defensively this could be a very difficult game for Manchester City to win, who despite their seven goal haul this week had only scored one in their previous three outings. The title challengers have only scored in one of their last three away matches.

This makes odds of 43/40 for Under 2.5 Match Goals look extremely attractive, and I’m also backing a 1-0 Manchester City win at 7/1.