Manchester City V Sunderland Betting – Saturday 19th December

Manchester City V Sunderland

Saturday 19^th December – 15:00 GMT

Manchester City

League Position: 8th

Recent Form: DDWDL

After two games without a win, Mark Hughes will be desperate to guide his City side back to winning ways, starting with a victory over a Sunderland side suffering a severe dip in form themselves. City won’t get too many better opportunities to bolster their tally, though, as they aim to at least go close to completing their Champions League objective, but their defeat to Spurs on Wednesday will only have hindered the team spirit ahead of what could still be a tricky encounter for Hughes’ blues.

We weren’t al that confident in City picking up a result at White Hart Lane and we were right to think so. City have been far too inconsistent for our liking, with draws making a mockery of the amount of cash that’s been lavished on the squad in such a short space of time. The defeat will be very disappointing but it will also leave a bitter taste in the mouth of Mark Hughes as it was the type of game City needed to be winning, or at leasing taking a point from, as it was a potential six point for that one remaining Champions League spot (we think Arsenal, Man Utd & Chelsea are guaranteed top four at least).

City have, though, been handed a decent opportunity to regain that winning feeling, although wins have been few and far between this season, which just emphasises our point about City being too inconsistent. You would think the City of Manchester stadium would be a fortress as it was for the most part of last season, but despite their recent success their over Chelsea, City have still struggled to notch up wins, with their record at home standing at 4-3-0. They are, though, still unbeaten at home but they’ve just one win in three at home, simply not good enough.

City’s price doesn’t do them justice, their form is ordinary at best, while they were exceptional poor at Tottenham despite a late 15 minute surge. However, even with all this stamped in our minds, we can only see one side winning in Manchester, and that’s City. They were superb in their last home encounter, a 2-1 victory over Chelsea, and anything close to a performance of that calibre would make them hard to stop. Still, not the best price in the world and Sunderland aren’t without a chance, but City for us in a game they have to win after defeat in their last outing. .

Sunderland

League Position: 10th

Recent Form: WLLDL

As a local poet would say “it’s all gone tits up” as far as Sunderland Football Club are concerned. After a more than impressive start to the campaign, even pulling off victories over Liverpool and Arsenal, Sunderland have gone completely off the boil on the run up to Christmas and head into this busy fixture schedule with no form whatsoever. It’s now down to Steve Bruce to revitalise the Sunderland ranks before Sunderland nose dive into a crucial and often season defining part of the campaign.

The Black Cats as they are sometimes known, made an extremely bright start to the season, winning five of their opening nine fixtures. However, a 2-1 defeat away at Birmingham appears to have sparked Sunderland into a downwards spiral as they haven’t recovered from that defeat and are paying the price with some horrific results. Now, a home defeat to Aston Villa may not seem all that bad considering Villa knocked the stuffing out of the champions the weekend before, but, Sunderland’s early good work had all come about through their solid home form, form which has rapidly diminished over the recent weeks. They they must do something they’ve only achieved once this season, and that’s win away from the Stadium of Light.

In eight attempts, Sunderland have managed to win just the one away games this season, with that rare success coming on the opening day of the season at The Reebok. A tough venue to play in but their opponents weren’t much cop. However, Steve Bruce hasn’t seen his side reach the same heights ever since and yet he can still take heart from the fact that his side are still in the top half of the table, albeit on goal difference. However, another pointless weekend for Sunderland would almost certainly see them drop yet more places and back down closer to the drop zone.

It’s hard to put your finger on why Sunderland aren’t picking up more points and we suppose you could put it down to that word ‘Clinical’ and Sunderland having not an ounce of it. Against Villa, despite losing 2-0, Sunderland had their chances, easy chances at that, and spurred each and every one of them. In this climate, when chances go begging, sides generally pay a big price and Sunderland paid theirs in defeat, which was further cemented when Lorik Cana was dismissed in the latter part of the game, and the midfielder will now miss this trip to Manchester.

The positives, though, is that Sunderland did create plenty of great goalscoring opportunities and perhaps a fitter Kenwyn Jones, who started his first game after returning from injury on Tuesday, would have converted his many glorious chances. However, the big negative is that Sunderland are terrible away from home and have lost on six occasions when playing away from their beloved Stadium of Light. They’re also on a terrible away run of four successive defeats and they appear to helpless as they embrace the bitter cold setting of Manchester against a team a lot more desperate for points.

Head-to-Head (Last 10):

Manchester City W: 8 Sunderland W: 0 Draws: 0

Man City have been devastating in this fixture and have won all eight encounters between the two sides. City don’t boast such a commanding h2h over too many teams but this has be one of their more superior ones. City have won eight in a row stretching back to 2002. Last season, though, City won both meetings to NIL, beating Sunderland 3-0 at The Stadium of Light and 1-0 in Manchester. However, City’s goal did come from a rare source in full-back Micah Richards, and Mark Hughes will be hoping his strikes can relive some of the goalscoring pressure as not a single striker could in the two meetings last season; Wright-Philips (2), Stephen Ireland and Micah Richards.

Match Verdict: Manchester City to WIN – 1.50 Bet365

City boast such a superior record over Sunderland and a wealth in talent that it’s simply too hard to oppose them this Saturday. After two games without a win and falling down to eighth position, City will be desperate to get back to winning ways as soon as possible before they lose yet more ground on the top four. Huge performances are demanded from Adebayor and Carlos Tevez as both were non-existent on Wednesday night, whilst their defence still has an air our concern surrounding it. Still, they are facing a Sunderland who, although started the season brightly, have gone right off the boil of late and the morale within camp will have deteriorated in recent weeks due to a nine game run without a victory and preference is for the home side, Man City.

Match Odds:

Manchester City – 1.50 Bet365

Draw – 4.20 Bet365

Sunderland – 8.00 Boylesports

SoccerBetting Value Tip: Man City/Man City (HT/FT Betting) – 2.20 PaddyPower