Manchester City will have close eyes on the result of
today’s crunch clash between Liverpool and Chelsea but their own title
ambitions face a very tough test against a resurgent Crystal Palace side and
whatever the result all the evidence points to them facing a difficult test
today.
The talk has been about Brendan Rodgers being manger of the
year but Tony Pulis’s transformation of affairs at Selhurst Park has been truly
remarkable. In November Palace were bottom of the Premier League and 1-16 to go
down with Hills (a standard price across the board) with four points from their
11 games. However they face City today with their survival assured in 11th
place, the fifth best defensive record – only Chelsea, Manchester City, Everton
and Manchester United – have stronger defensive records than Palace's, with
only six clubs having gained more points since his arrival in November.
Under Pulis’s stewardship Palace have won 11 of their 22
matches and kept ten clean sheets, including 4 in their winning streak of 5
games that has pushed them to safety.
Manchester City come here technically in the title race, but
needing a result for Chelsea of some description at Anfield earlier to have a
realistic chance of taking a second title since Shekih Mansour’s takeover but
their ending to the season, much like last year’s unsuccessful title defence,
has been below the high standards set of the club and another title looks to be
beyond them.
They were unfortunate not to take a point from Anfield over
a fortnight ago with 25 minutes of football equally as impressive as the
Merseysiders start drawing them level before a defensive blunder by Vincent
Kompany gifted Liverpool all three points but they were lucky to scrape a draw
after going ahead against Sunderland thanks to Vito Mannone’s error and were
routine in a win against West Brom on Monday after taking an early lead. Their
away form this season has been improved in the main – they have 8 wins with
four games to go, having won just 9 on the road all season – but they’ve still
failed to win 9 games on their travels and have won just 2 of their last 5
since swatting away Manchester United, with the scoreline flattering them for
those two home wins.
With Palace having tested them harder than all but a few
sides when going down just 1-0 at the Etihad and having built an impressive
looking record of 8 away wins from their early season drought, I have little
enthusiasm for a price of 4/9 about City. Pulis’s men have lost just 4 of their
22 games under him by two goals and in that timeframe, beaten Chelsea and
Everton to name two sides on home turf, making the 17/20 about Palace on the
Asian handicap getting a +1.25 start instantly the most appealing option, with
a half win option for a one goal defeat.
Advice
2 pts Crystal Palace +1.25 on Asian handicap (17/20 Bet365)
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