Norwich City V Manchester City
Saturday 14th September 2019 – 17:30 Kick-Off
English Premier League (Live on Sky Sports)
Pick: Both Teams to Score
Odds: 4/5
Bookmaker: BetFred
 |
1 | X | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14/1 | 77/10 | 13/100 |
* (All betting odds displayed were correct as of 11th September 2019 at 15:10)
Preview: The final Premier League fixture for Saturday pits the reigning champions against last season’s title winners from the league below, as Norwich City welcome Manchester City to Carrow Road for what promises to be an intriguing contest in front of the Sky Sports cameras.
English Premier League Betting – 22Bet
Norwich City Preview – Farke to be celebrating famous victory?
The Canaries had almost become the unofficial darlings of this season’s Premier League, with their exciting brand of football entertaining many a neutral and earning them a raft of admirers. It is perhaps easy, therefore, to overlook the fact that Norwich have struggled to pick up points upon their return to the English top-flight and head into this weekend second-bottom in the table after losing three of their opening four matches (W1 D0 L3).
It doesn’t get any easier, either, with the defending champions up next as Daniel Farke’s side continue to negotiate a difficult opening schedule that has already pitted them against Chelsea (L2-3) and Liverpool (L4-1). Neither returned much in the way of tangible reward but the performances in both, particularly from an attacking sense, suggests they will be a handful for anybody this season.
So far, though, a 3-1 victory at home to Newcastle remains their only positive outcome. Yet they have now scored five times from only two home matches and when combining these early exploits with those from last season’s successful campaign in the second-tier, makes it seventeen successive home matches without failing to score. That Chelsea defeat was also the first incurred at Carrow Road since late December (W8 D3 L1 since).
The attack has undoubtedly shone more than any other area of the pitch, with Emiliano Buendia and Todd Cantwell demonstrating their creative talents and complementing a clinical Teemu Pukki. The Finnish international, who scored in back-to-back games for his country during the international break, has bagged five of the six goals Norwich have managed so far and is 5/2 with Betway to score again this weekend.
Manchester City Preview – Champs to maintain impressive away form?
The first to blink in what is already shaping up to be another two-horse title race were Manchester City. As a consequence of their 2-2 draw with Tottenham at The Etihad, Pep Guardiola’s team find themselves two points behind pacesetters Liverpool and only too aware that any slip-up could prove costly even at such an early stage of the season.
Last season, City didn’t surrender a single point against one of the promoted sides, winning all three away encounters without so much as conceding a goal. So there is a strong possibility about another win here, which would be their tenth consecutive away from home in the league when combining their triumphs at West Ham (W0-5) and Bournemouth (W1-3) of this season with their stellar efforts in the second half of last season.
Focusing on their recent away exploits; six of Man City’s current nine-game winning run on the road was achieved whilst keeping a clean sheet. Another win to nil here is rated a 6/5 chance with BetVictor. Meanwhile, their two away success in this campaign both seen them hit at least three goals, with both matches comprising of four goals or more. Therefore the 5/6 on offer with PaddyPower about a Man City victory and Over 3.5 Match Goals has obvious appeal.
Those odds are a considerable upgrade on those available for Sergio Aguero to maintain his superb scoring streak of having netted in every Premier League game thus far. The Argentine currently leads the way in the scoring charts with six strikes and is, unsurprisingly, a short price to add to his tally, at 3/5 with BetVictor to score anytime in proceedings. A better bet could be Kevin De Bruyne (2/1 to score), who was in inspired mood for Belgium recently.
Norwich City V Manchester City Key Facts:
- Norwich have lost only one of their past 12 league matches at home (W8 D3 L1), though that did come against Chelsea (2-3) in their most recent contest at Carrow Road.
- Man City have won their last nine away league games in a row, with both away wins this season featuring 4 or more match goals.
- This will be the first competitive meeting between the two clubs since the 2015/16 Premier League, when Norwich held Man City to a goalless draw at home.
Betting Summary
As valiant as their efforts have so far been, the fact remains that Norwich have only collected three points from a possible twelve and have just one team below them in the table. The fixture list has not been kind on them, that much is true, but it only gets worse here with Man City next up. Carrow Road needs to be the catalyst; the Canaries have only been beaten once there in their previous twelve league fixtures, scoring on at least one occasion in the last seventeen.
The gap separating Manchester City and leaders Liverpool is minimal but in a title race that is likely to be settled in fine margins, further slip-ups are unthinkable. City are two points adrift ahead of this weekend, which could become five points by the time this match kick-offs. So there will be an element of pressure on them. Although whether much of that is felt by a side bidding to win its tenth straight away league game is up for debate.
This is a brutally tough assignment for Norwich. Daniel Farke’s men have posed some serious problems for opposing defenders though, breaching both backlines of Chelsea and Liverpool, so banking on them causing problems for a Man City side shorn of their best defender, with Aymeric Laporte unavilable, isn’t beyond the realms of possibility. This game could be entertaining.
