Manchester City may have fallen short on the continent this season but Pep Guardiola’s side have been simply sublime en route to securing the Premier League title.
Winning 30 and drawing three of their first 35 matches Cityzens left the chasing pack for dust and fans expect the free-spending side to dominate English football for the foreseeable future.
City hammered West Ham 4-1 to bring April to a close and as well as putting the match beyond their opponents, Fernandinho’s goal on 64 minutes at the London Stadium was his employer’s 102nd of the season. To put that into context, 2016/17 champions Chelsea scored 85 goals with 2015/16 kings Leicester managing 68.
Pre-season favourites with bookmakers in the Premier League betting last year’s bronze medalists lived up to the hype and will be eager to shine in their final home match of the season to thank followers for their continued support.
Lowly Brighton provide the opposition on Wednesday May 9th as the pair meet in an 8.00pm kick-off. There’s little doubt among traders that Manchester City will sign-off with a big win and punters looking to support the champions must make do with bet365’s 1/8. Short, but that’s currently the market best.
That’ll push backers into the specials but there’s thankfully no lack of markets available to football lovers looking for a lively interest. With the stands packed and a party atmosphere in the air to close the show goals are expected from a side who scored 14 in six starts last month. That includes the four against West Ham and a stunning 5-0 win over Swansea at the Etihad Stadium; this match producing more than three goals is even money.
This will be the second fixture of the season involving Manchester City and Brighton with the reverse leg ending in a 2-0 away win at Falmer Stadium back in August. Tighter than many expected, it took until the 70th minute before the victors were able to break the deadlock with Sergio Aguero on target. Lewis Dunk turned the ball into his own net five minutes later for an unfortunate own-goal that put the game to bed.
Fancy more of the same? Man City to do the double over Brighton with another win to nil makes plenty of appeal at 4/7 or -1 goal on the handicap trades around the 2/5 mark which should make it popular in accumulators. 4/9 has no in the both teams to score market favourite but the head-to-head stats tell us it may be worth chancing the bigger price.
Three of the last four meetings of these rivals has seen both find the net at least once, including a 2-1 City win when last facing off in Manchester. Both to score is 13/8. Chris Hughton’s side will finish outside of the prizes following last season’s promotion from the Championship but they have already notched goals against the likes of Tottenham, Arsenal and West Ham this year.
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