Man City v Chelsea Prediction 24th February 2013

Man City v Chelsea Betting Preview
With the title challenges of both teams having fallen by the wayside, the battle to secure a top three finish is still on. However, both have been struggling to post wins on the board as recent form has seen them both throw away points. Both managers remain under pressure to perform and there is a big three points up for grabs. Second placed City could open a comfortable seven point lead over Chelsea, while Chelsea really need the points too to try and keep the challenges of Tottenham and Arsenal off their heels. Which way will the game swing?

Man City v Chelsea Betting Odds at online bookmaker Paddy Power
Man City Evens, Draw 13/5, Chelsea 14/5

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Man City v Chelsea Recommended Bet:
City have at least been in good home form in the Premier League against Chelsea, winning the last three in a row. All of those wins have been by a one goal margin and so that sounds like a good trend to keep running with. There shouldn’t be too much to split the two sides on Sunday at the Etihad, especially with City not having won any of their last three Premier League matches. They lost 3-1 in their last outing away at Southampton, and picked up draws against Liverpool and QPR prior to that. Their last home game saw them have to come from 2-1 down to rescue a point against Liverpool, thanks to a pretty amazing goal from Sergio Aguero. City really need Aguero firing and will be hoping that his form in the FA Cup against Leeds, which City won comfortably 4-0 last weekend, will at least give them a strong end of season run in. That game against Liverpool was their most recent home match in the top flight, prior to that they had won three on the bounce at the Etihad all with clean sheets.

City have conceded at a rate of 0.85 goals per game at home this season and have themselves scored at over a rate of two goals per game. So that is pretty healthy standing for them, even though they have been nowhere near as prolific as they were last season. City have ran up a W9 D3 L1 home record in the Premier League this season and they have found the back of the net in all of their home matches in the league. The two sides have already met twice this season with City winning 3-2 in the Community Shield and then picking up a point in a dour 0-0 affair at Stamford Bridge late last November. Edin Dzeko is in great shape up front at the moment having scored six goals in his last seven Premier League appearances and having won the last three in a row against Chelsea at home, they really will be eying up a big three points. They haven’t scored as many as Chelsea have this season, but defensively they have been a bit better. Mancini has been guilty of getting his tactics a bit wrong, but could ease the pressure on himself a bit with a win.

Rafa Benitez still hasn’t won over Chelsea fans, that’s for sure. With Spurs just one point behind them in fourth, Chelsea can’t afford to drop more points at the moment. They have only won one of the last three, just two of the last five in the Premier League. So they need a boost in form as well. The Blues threw away leads against Reading and Newcastle before rediscovering their winning touch in a 4-1 win over Wigan a couple of weekends ago. The Blues haven’t won on their last two away matches (the games at Reading and Newcastle), but prior to that they had ran off four away wins in a row. Away from home this season they have mustered up a W7 D3 L3 record in the top flight and their preparations for this match won’t have been helped by having played a Europa League game on Thursday while City were resting. Chelsea have scored at a rate of almost two goals per game on the road this season, defensively though on their travels they have conceded at over a goal per game. Frank Lampard has scored in his last four Premier League matches in a row and in total has 11 from 13 EPL starts this term.

Should be a tight game between the two sides searching for valuable points. A Man City 2-1 Correct Score bet is trading at 7/1 with online bookmaker Paddy Power. That result has been produced in two of the last three of these fixtures, and comes with coverage from the bookie’s promotion below.

Form
Man City WWDDLW, Chelsea DDLWWW

Stat Attack
Chelsea have lost their last three away at City
City have won only one of the last four EPL matches against Chelsea
Edin Dzeko has five goals in his last six Premier League appearances
Frank Lampard has 11 EPL goals from his 13 starts this season