City won’t burst the dam
City sealed a comfortable opening win against Arsenal at the Emirates last Sunday. It’s surely got to be a win against Huddersfield, but are we going to see an absolute demolition of the The Terriers? I don’t think so.
Manchester City
Pep Guardiola got exactly the start he was hoping for with a ruthless 2-0 victory against Arsenal. The difference in class between the two sides was palpable, with Sterling making light work of an early goal that sent the Sky Blues soaring into the lead. But the key point of the post-match discussion was actually City defender Benjamin Mendys, and it wasn’t the summer signing being shoved into the starting-11 for an early debut that caught people's’ attention.
Of course I think that City will take home the three points from this one, but the big question is, by how many?
The fact that the centre back seemed to be playing more offensive than forward man Sterling was the talking point. Against sides like Liverpool or Spurs that type offensive minded attitude can be punishing if a central defender is caught off the ball. This time round though it worked.
For the Huddersfield match up, if Kevin De Bruyne has managed to get the minutes in on the training pitch he should be a surefire starter. Of course I think that City will take home the three points from this one, but the big question is, by how many?
I think Pep will continue to utilise Stones and Laporte who are in top form, but I’m not so sure that City will win by more than three. Huddersfield are definitely capable of ensuring they avoid a complete rout.
Huddersfield
A nightmare start for Huddersfield with a 0-3 loss at home to a Chelsea side that had question marks all over it before kick off. Unfortunately, if we size up the squads, we can’t help but come to the conclusion that Huddersfield are destined for anything but the bottom half of the table.
To keep it tight and avoid embarrassment against the league’s top team would be a great start
During the pre-season they’ve brought in a few new faces in the form of Diakhaby, Durm, Kongolo and Hamer to name a few, who went straight onto the pitch against Chelsea representsing a bit of a shake up from last season. The Yorkshire men have some key defensive players at hand, and have made some important strengthening at the back, and in all hope they’ll have gained some vital minutes together before it comes to the business end of the season. To keep it tight and avoid embarrassment against the league’s top team would be a great start.
When they went up against City last season they succeeded in keeping it goalless at the Etihad, and only went down 1-2 at home. Against the other top sides they managed a draw against Chelsea, 0-1 against Arsenal, 0-2 against Spurs and likewise with the same winning scoreline against Man United.
Match Tips
I’m sure City will get the job done here and i think they’ll do it with a clean sheet. The big question is then - by how many goals. With it being the start of the season, with key players not quite reaching peak form I think it’ll ‘only’ be by three goals. At any rate I don’t think it will be five.
I reckon that a combo bet of a City win and under 4.5 goals is a solid shout at odds of 3/5 (1.61) with Ladbrokes for this one.
