Manchester City vs Bournemouth
1st vs 8th
PREVIEW
Manchester City will take some stopping this season. Pep Guardiola’s side are unlikely to lose to teams outside the top six at the Etihad, meaning the odds are stacked massively in their favour in most markets and value is therefore hard to come by.
After a good run catapulted Eddie Howe’s side into that top-six bracket, three successive defeats have halted their progress and the Cherries will be more focused on getting results against Huddersfield and Wolves in the coming weeks, rather than against the likes of City, Liverpool and Chelsea, who they also face in December.
OPTA STATS
Manchester City have won all six Premier League matches against Bournemouth, scoring 21 goals and conceding only two.
Bournemouth are yet to win a league match against Manchester City – in 12 previous meetings, they’ve drawn twice and lost 10.
Bournemouth are yet to lose an away Premier League match against the reigning champion – they beat Chelsea in both the 2015-16 and 2017-18 seasons and drew with Leicester City in 2016-17.
If Man City avoid defeat, it will be their third unbeaten run in the Premier League of 20+ games – something only Manchester United (7 times) and Arsenal (4 times) have done more often in the competition.
The only two games Man City have failed to win in the Premier League this season have been in the only two games in which they’ve failed to score in the first half (1-1 vs Wolves, 0-0 vs Liverpool).
Man City’s Raheem Sterling has had a hand in nine goals in five Premier League appearances against Bournemouth (7 goals, 2 assists), averaging a goal or assist every 48 minutes.
Raheem Sterling could become the first player in Premier League history to score in his first six appearances against an opponent, having netted in all five of his games for Man City against Bournemouth so far.
Seven of Man City striker Sergio Aguero’s eight Premier League goals this season have come in home games. The Argentine has been involved in 23 goals in his last 14 Premier League games at the Etihad (18 goals, 5 assists).
My prediction- Man City to win 3-1 (10/1 on SkyBet)
