Can watford give citizens a tough competition

Manchester City have started the season like house on fire, they are looking unstoppable and are just flying at the moment. Looking at the things happening at the club, their rivals should be really scared. Fully focused Yaya Toure is firing on all cylinders, 45m new signing Raheem Sterling haven’t put a step wrong so far, have just added La Liga’s best defender last season Nicholas Otamendi for 32m and if the reports are accurate City have just broken the British Transfer record to land Bundesliga’s best midfielder last season in Kevin De Bryune. Chances look very slim for premier league new boys Watford this week at the Etihad.

Head to Head

Premier League H2h stat between these two means nothing as their last BPL meeting was in 2006, that’s back in the time when Manchester City weren’t rich. Both the matches between these teams during 2006/07 season ends in a draw. It would be a big surprise if the Hornets can pull off a similar result this time around.

Their latest meeting was in the FA cup 2014 where Manchester City came back from 0-2 down to win 4-2 in normal time with Kun Aguero scoring a hat trick. The kind of form he is in, don’t be surprised if he do it again.

Team News

Ivorian Striker is ruled out with a gashed leg while Pablo Zabaleta remains injured for Manchester City. Nicolas Otamendi is available to make his debut this weekend, but one would expect Pellegrini to stick with Kompany and Mangala. The pair is yet to concede a goal this season.

Miguel Britos will be serving a three match suspension for Watford, Joel Ekstrand will not to be available for selection due to the knee injury.

Stats

Sergio Aguero has scored in each of his last five Premier League home appearances, netting seven times in those games.

Watford have won just three of their 39 Premier League away matches

City have kept seven clean sheets in their last eight Premier League games at the Etihad

Manchester City have now won nine successive league games – only on eight occasions in the Premier League has a team won 10+ games in a row.

Match Tip

Manchester City are obviously the superior side here and are heavily backed to win this game, but at 1.17 there isn’t much value on betting terms.

Looking at the other options, Watford’s defensive setup and organisation was impressive in their first 3 games, they just conceded two goals in their opening 3 games, that includes two clean sheets. There is no doubt Flores will set up the visiting team to defend and if they can stop City from scoring in opening 30 minutes, they can surely keep go away with a respectable scoreline.

Watford +2.5 at 1.60 with Bet365

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