Only a win will do for Man City against Swansea

Manchester City face Swansea City on Saturday in the knowledge that the Premier League title they won in 2013/14 is beginning to slip away from them before the season has even reached Christmas.

Manuel Pellegrini`s team were severely out of form prior to the international break, a break that will not have helped the manager or his staff in their preparations for this match. Manchester City have won only once in their last four Premier League games and although that was a moral boosting win over local rivals Manchester United, they struggled to get over the line against ten men. Out of the remaining three games, one was drawn and the other two were defeats. Despite this recent record, Manchester City are still favourites to over turn Swansea at the Etihad and are available at 2/5 with paddypower.

It goes without saying that Manchester City`s main threat to the Swansea goal will come from Sergio Aguero, who has been in scintillating form this season. The Argentine has scored 12 goals so far in the Premier League this season and 3 in his last three competitive games for the club, including a brace against Queens Park Rangers last time out. Aguero is on offer at 3/1 with bet365 to score the first goal of the game. With the likes of Edin Dzeko and David Silva looking likely to miss the game through injury, Yaya Toure will again be the man expected to provide the goal threat from midfield but still has only one goal to his name in the Premier League this season and that came back at the start of October against Aston Villa. However, Pellegrini will know that with the absence of Silva, Toure needs to step up and the Ivory Coast international is available at 15/8 with betfred to score at any time.

Swansea City go in to the match just 3 points behind their hosts in the Premier League table and a win could take them in to the Champions League places if results elsewhere go their way. Recent form has been up and down, winning two, drawing one and losing one of their last four Premier League games. However, Swansea`s last two results will give Garry Monk confidence that they can come away from Manchester City with something, having got a point at Everton and defeated Arsenal and the Welsh club are 17/2 with BetVictor to take all 3 points away from the Etihad Stadium. Wilfried Bony will again be leading the line for Swansea and the striker currently has 4 goals to his name in the Premier League this season. Despite not finding the back of the net in his previous two Premier League games, Bony scored twice against Manchester City last season and is available at 17/2 with bet365 to grab the opening goal of the match.

Although Swansea managed to leave Goodison with a point in their last away match in the Premier League, previous away trips have not been so kind to them and since defeating Manchester United at Old Trafford in the opening game of the season, Swansea have failed to win any of their away matches, drawing two and losing three. In addition to this, Swansea have not only failed to defeat Manchester City away from in the Premier League, they have also not scored a single goal at the Etihad in their three encounters to date. In fact, Manchester City have scored 8 goals without reply in these three games and Coral offer 6/4 for Manchester City to win without conceding a goal and BetVictor 11/2 for Manchester City to win by 3 goals.

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20/11/2014     © Frixo 2026