Monday evening at 20:00, Manchester City can make a big step towards the title of England champion in the 37th Premier League. Pep Guardiola’s “Citizens” are leaning on their own against Leicester, a spectacular team that can provide a solid replica of the en-titre champions. Both bands have almost complete batches.
Without De Bruyne and Fernandinho, injured, Manchester City will assault Kasper Schmeichel’s attack, trying to take revenge for the failure of the tour, 1-2 score in Leicester. On the opposite side, Brendan Rodgers can give him a big helping hand to his former team, Liverpool, who hoped the wrong way “of the citizens”. Only Amartey is missing from the fox camp, which means that stars Gray, Vardy and Maddison will be able to play Monday night.
Manchester City is ranked 1st in the hierarchy (goal 90-22), with a small advantage over Liverpool, who is “lurking” from the second place. Leicester is on the 9th position and has failed to qualify for the next European Cup, but the appointment as Brendan Rodgers manager has changed the white-blue game for good. With a single failure in the last seven stages, the “foxes” come after good matches with Arsenal (3-0), Huddersfield (4-1) and Bournemouth (2-0), with an excellent game play in April. On the other hand, Manchester City is concentrating on the title and Guardiola’s team has won the last three consecutive stages: 1-0 with Burnley, 2-0 with Manchester United and 1-0 with Spurs.
Usually, the two bands are involved in spectacular matches, especially when they meet in direct duels. In the tour, City led the King Power Stadium, but the hosts turned the score and won a huge victory, showing that Leicester has no complexes in front of the grandees. The two bands also met in the last two English League Cup editions, and the City was forced to move every 2-1, a score set for overtime! So they scored both bands in each of the previous four direct duels, regardless of the stadium that hosted the meeting. The hosts will not have an easy job Monday night, but Ederson’s defense must be at a height to secure the Etihad victory.
Manchester City comes after 12 consecutive wins in the championship and escaped goallessly in 9 of these matches, which speaks for itself about organizing the “Citizens” game. We expect a more open match in the second half, as Leicester scores 36% of their goals after the 75th minute! Otherwise, City will close the spaces and “arrest” possession of the ball, in case it will have a fragile advantage on the final match.
MANCHESTER CITY – LEICESTER PROBABILITY TEAMS
Manchester City: Ederson – Walker, Stones, Laporte, Zinchenko – Gundogan, Fernandinho, D. Silva – B. Silva, Aguero, Sterling
Leicester: Schmeichel – R. Pereira, Maguire, Evans, Chilwell – Ndidi – Albrighton, Tielemans, Maddison, D. Gray – Vardy
PREDICTION: Over 3,5 goals @ 1,80
