Manchester City v West Bromwich Albion Betting Tips: Citizens to move up with a win

Only one of these teams here really has something left to play for as Manchester City are still looking to confirm their place in the top four whilst West Bromwich Albion have done magnificently to reach 8th so far this season.

Manchester City recorded a 2-1 victory over Leicester City at the weekend, albeit luckily with Riyad Mahrez’s disallowed penalty, to keep themselves in 3rd (hope you followed my tip on that match!) whilst also maintaining the three-point gap between themselves and Arsenal down in 5th.

City’s performance in the first half on Saturday was a decent summary of what they have been like all season; excellent going forward with plenty of goals but still rather susceptible at the back. Having said that, credit to them as they managed to hold off the Leicester attack for the entire of the second half, albeit Leicester had a penalty, when under immense pressure to secure a result. The goals are certainly flowing for Man City at the moment though and they have now scored an average of three goals per game in their last three.

Tuesday sees Pep Guardiola’s side host a match for the second time in four days as they welcome West Brom. City’s home form has been sublime of late with no losses in any competition since 3rd December 2016, scoring in all but two of their matches. Although they had kept two consecutive home clean sheets prior to Leicester’s visit, the Citizens’ home clean sheet ratio of just 28% is not only the worst in the top seven but also the fifth-worst in the entire top flight – even already-relegated Middlesbrough’s record is far better (37%).

There can be no denying that West Bromwich Albion have had a fantastic season so far as they have spent most of it, not only in the top half, but in the top eight. However, many are saying that manager Tony Pulis’s constant rhetoric about simply securing safety earlier on in the season has had a negative impact on these latter stages as the squad no longer have something to focus on – such was the emphasis on survival. West Brom have now failed to win in seven, losing five of them, and are in danger of slipping out the top half.

As you would expect from a Tony Pulis side, Albion are one of the division’s most solid sides. However, as alluded to above, they have really tailed off in recent weeks. Ten games ago (round 26), West Brom had only conceded 32 goals – a better record than Liverpool in 5th and a better record than all but one of the teams below them in the table at that point. Now however, their Goals Against total stands at 46 – a shocking 43.75% increase. The fact that Pulis’s men have never been great going forward – scoring in just one of their last seven matches – means this inability to keep clean sheets is wrecking their season.

The Baggies have always been tough to play against at their home ground of The Hawthorns, however, on the road they are a pretty easy target for the opposition. They are yet to win an away match in 2017 and have taken maximum points just once since 6th November 2016 whilst, going into this match, they have taken just one point and scored just once away at top seven sides this season.

Manchester City are the favourites here and rightly so given the contrasting form of these two sides. However, although the home side are a force going forward, despite their recent lack of clean sheets, West Brom still do not concede too many and so City may find it tough to break them down. Albion have not conceded three or more in any of their last eight matches and so ‘Manchester City to Win & Under 3.5 Goals’ looks a good bet.

Arsenal v Sunderland tips can be found here.