Sunderland vs Manchester City Betting Tips

Sunderland’s 1-1 draw with Bournemouth last weekend was a real chance for Sam Allardyce’s side to stake a claim for survival, but despite the home advantage they couldn’t make it count.

This made it two defeats, two wins, and one draw in their last five matches, but they haven’t been able to even register a threat against the top quality sides they have faced.

Sunderland’s victories have come against fellow relegation candidates Swansea and Aston Villa, whilst matches against Spurs and Arsenal have ended 4-1 and 3-1 respectively. Their Boxing Day meeting with Manchester City ended 4-1 to the north westerners as well.

This leaves them in 19^th position in the Premier League, four points adrift of the safety of 17^th place, a position which Norwich occupy.

Manchester City had an FA Cup fixture to contend with at the weekend, but their strength in depth allowed them to field a relatively weakened side. They still managed to thrash Aston Villa 4-0 though, with Kelechi Iheanacho staking a claim for a more regular place in the starting line up by bagging a hat trick.

This made it six games unbeaten in all competitions for Manchester City, with four of these games ending in victory. More importantly, they have won three of their last five away matches, indicating a return to form on the road after their dismal period towards the end of 2015.

They are in 2^nd position in the Premier League, three points behind leaders Leicester and ahead of Arsenal on goal difference. With Manuel Pellegrini announcing that he will be replaced in the summer, he will certainly want to go out with another Premier League title under his belt.

I’m fancying Manchester City to get a comfortable win on Tuesday. They have regularly dealt out thrashings this season and Sunderland’s form against the top sides is disastrous. Odds of 1.775 for a Manchester City -1 Asian Handicap are excellent value too, and I’m backing that along with a 3-1 correct score prediction at 12/1.