Saturday 18th February 2016 Kickoff: 1500hrs Huddersfield v Manchester City Football – England – FA Cup The Premier League takes a backseat this weekend as the FA Cup reaches the last 16 stage. Teams will now beginning to think that if they can win two more games they will be playing at Wembley and there’s plenty of teams from the lower league who remain in with a chance of doing that. One of those teams is inform Huddersfield who take on what appears to be a huge challenge with Manchester City coming to town. That said, the Terriers are riding high in the Championship and are full of confidence.
David Wagner was best known as being Jurgen Klopp’s right hand man before coming into English football, but he is quickly being recognized as a very talented and effective coach in his own right. He’s been in charge of Huddersfield for just over a year and the improvement at the club in that time is remarkable. Now, in the middle of February, the Yorkshire club are sitting third in the table and are only five points off of leaders Newcastle. Bearing in mind this is a club who have never played in the Premier League and have yo-yoed between this level and League One for the best part of a decade, that in itself is some achievement. They look well placed to finish in the top six at the very least and if they can continue on their current form – where they have won their last six and lost only one of their last 15 – then they will have an excellent chance of finishing in the top two and securing automatic promotion. Wagner and his players will switch their attention to the FA Cup this weekend and although underdogs, they will surely relish taking on Pep Guardiola and City.
City themselves seem to be in a really good point of their season just now, with Monday’s win away to Bournemouth meaning they have now won four straight – the first time since the end of September. Considering how dominant they were in the opening weeks of the season and the expectation amongst the support with Guardiola’s arrival, that’s remarkable in itself. The key challenge for all concerned is being able to maintain a similar level of form for the rest of the season and attempt to challenge on all three fronts. City have returned to second spot in the league where they remain a lengthy eight points adrift of Chelsea and will take on Monaco next midweek in the last 16 of the Champions League but before that, they face a tricky game on Saturday as they look to progress in a competition which they have not won since 2011. It may be that the FA Cup presents City’s best opportunity of winning silverware in Guardiola’s first season, as sobering as that may be.
Huddersfield v Manchester City Betting Tips
This game pits two teams in excellent form against each other and it should be an entertaining one at that. City have a huge game coming up in the Champions League but Huddersfield also have a very important fixture of their own this coming Tuesday as they host Reading, a team just below them in the table, in a game that is bound to have an impact on the promotion picture in the Championship. All that can wait, however, and we can look forward to this one first, particularly as it takes place at 3pm on a Saturday.
Both Wagner and Guardiola have similar philosophies on how the game should be played which should ensure this is an entertaining game. Huddersfield have only lost twice at home this season and have scored eight goals in their two FA Cup games to date, albeit against lower league opposition. City have had more than their fair share of disappointments this season, especially on the road, but there are signs that the team’s mentality is strengthening to go with their undoubted quality. They, too, have scored eight in the FA Cup and have also yet to concede, and both games have been against Premier League opposition – away from home. I expect the trend to continue in this one and advise backing over three goals, meaning if there are exactly three goals scored then stakes are returned.
66/67 @ 10bet
