Burton Albion v Manchester City
Wednesday 23rd January 1600hrs
Football – England – EFL Cup
Pick: Manchester City -2 (AH)
Bookmaker: Ladbrokes
Odds: 20/23 (odds taken 17.00 GMT, Tuesday 22nd January)
The tie may be over as a contest but there’s still a second leg to play and a bet to be had. Continue reading for a match preview of Burton Albion against Manchester City with a selected best betting tip.
League Cup Betting at Ladbrokes
Burton Albion Preview
What has been a dream experience for Burton Albion so far certainly turned into a nightmare in the first leg of their semi-final against City. Nigel Clough’s men travelled with the hope of at least being competitive and perhaps remaining in the tie coming into Wednesday’s game at the Pirelli Stadium. That hope was virtually extinguished before it started, though, as the League One club were down within the first 10 minutes and their opponents just asserted themselves. To compound matters, a large number of Burton’s supporters were prevented from experiencing the Etihad due to traffic issues – although they may be thankful considering the final score. Burton’s achievement was getting to this stage and whilst there is little expectancy of them getting a result on Wednesday, it’s a chance for the whole club to celebrate that achievement and if they can, make the game more competitive than what occurred a fortnight ago.
Key-Facts – Burton Albion v Manchester City
- Burton are on something of a recovery mission having been beaten 9-0 in the first leg
- City have scored 22 goals without reply in their last four games
- Guardiola is likely to give game time to De Bruyne, Foden and Mendy
Manchester City Preview
Its job done as far as Pep Guardiola and his EFL Cup holders are concerned. When the draw was made for the semi-final it was a favourable outcome for City being paired with a League One team as opposed to Chelsea or Arsenal. Thanks to their thumping 9-0 win from the first leg they now have a cup final to look forward to as this bed to retain their trophy whilst Guardiola can also use the second leg to give some of his squad another runout with the big games continuing to come for a team who are challenging on all four fronts. That was clearly in the manager’s thinking in this first leg as it was an extremely strong eleven that he fielded, but we can expect to see a more youthful line-up, however it will also be a good opportunity for Benjamin Mendy to return to action who has been added to the squad having missed yet more time through injury.
Burton Albion v Manchester City Betting Advice
The extent of what Burton have achieved by getting to this stage of the EFL Cup was probably not realised until the complete mismatch of the first leg. Clough’s men have defeated three Championship teams and a Premier League side and will rightly be proud of it. City proved to be a step too far and although a number of changes are likely to be made in the visitors’ team for this, they are still going to have an abundance of quality and providing their motivation is there, there is only going to be one outcome.
Guardiola was criticised in some quarters for having the audacity to drive his team on to get more goals in that first game and as unwarranted as that criticism was, is likely to only spur him and his players on to continue that dominance tomorrow. The desire to keep attacking and scoring goals in spite of the score has been a feature of this team under Guardiola and I can only see that continuing against Burton with players desperate to make an impact. If you backed City minus two on the Asian Handicap you would have won, or stake returned, in 20 of their 34 competitive games this season so the odds on at least a two-goal win look fair against Burton.
