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The travelling Hornets won’t have too many fond memories of their trips to the City of Manchester Stadium. They are yet to taste Premier League victory here with their thirteen visits seeing eleven Manchester City wins and two draws. City needs a win to ensure the title challenge remains in their own hands and are expected to come out flying against Watford here.
Therefore, 101 Great Goals’ prediction for this match is Manchester City 4 – 0 Watford and is available at odds of 7.5/1.
Alternatively, you can bet on any Manchester City win at 1.09/1 against Watford at home on Saturday.
Or, back any away win for Watford at 17/1 here at the City of Manchester Stadium.
You can find odds of 11/1 for any draw between Manchester City and Watford on Saturday.
Bet on Manchester City vs Watford at bet365 by clicking here.
Match preview
After their elimination from the FA Cup last weekend at the hands of Liverpool, Manchester City are now down to two possible trophies this season. Although, they are the ‘big two’ and remain favourites for both. City are 1.44/1 to win the Premier League title and joint-favourites with Liverpool at 2.25/1 to win the UEFA Champions League.
The task in the Premier League is a simple one; win the remaining six games. Anything other than that means the Cityzens will require a favour from elsewhere. Saturday’s match against Watford is likely the one opportunity for City to open up a four-point gap over Liverpool with the Merseyside Derby kicking off the following day. All the other matches in this race to the finish will see Liverpool kicking off before or at the same time as The Sky Blues.
As mentioned at the start of this preview, a home match against Watford hasn’t been something to cause too many problems for City in the past in the Premier League. However, as football likes to frequently remind us, all records exist to be broken. Plus, all games start at 0-0 and with even a draw being potentially a disaster for Man City, the onus is on Pep’s side to go out and put Watford to the sword.
The head to head between these two managers will also be a worry as Roy Hodgson has landed a few blows on Pep’s dominant side in the past. Pep has won 62.5% of the clashes between the two but they have only won one of the last three home matches against a Roy Hodgson side.
A repeat of the Brighton match in midweek is expected here. Absolute dominance from Manchester City with the flood gates likely opening if or when they can get the first. The question will be how long can Watford hold out for and whether they can land a sucker punch on the break.
Riyad Mahrez Goalscorer. – It was Mahrez who finally found the breakthrough for City after halftime in midweek. The Algerian international is the 4/1 favourite to score the game’s opener again on Saturday. Or 1.667/1 to bag a goal at any time during the game against Watford.
Manchester City team news
Ruben Dias (pictured above) is expected to make his first start for Manchester City since the beginning of March here. The Portuguese international defender had been ruled out with a thigh injury but made an appearance at the start of the second half against Brighton in midweek following an injury to Nathan Ake. With Ake and John Stones both being replaced here due to injury, it is likely the pair are on the bench at beast on Saturday with Dias and Aymeric Laporte forming a partnership at the back.
Benjamin Mendy remains suspended by the club pending an outcome of police investigations. The left-back has been charged with seven counts of rape and faces another court hearing in May in advance of his trial in July. Injuries to Ake and Kyle Walker mean Oleksandr Zinchenko and Joao Cancelo are likely the only available full-backs for Pep here.
Watford team news
Juan Camilo (or Cucho) Hernandez (pictured above) is the only Watford player confirmed as ruled out of the trip to Manchester. The Colombian forward suffered a hamstring injury against Leeds which is serious enough to rule him out until the latter stages of the season at the earliest.
Nicolas Nkoulou has returned to training from the hamstring problem that has seen him make only three league appearances this season for the club. However, after such a long time out he will need to ease back into the squad and will be lacking in match fitness.
Francisco Sierralta (calf muscle injury), Samuel Kalu (ankle injury), William Troost-Ekong (thigh injury) and Kwadwo Baah (ankle problem) are all back in full training and face a fitness test on Friday to decide if they can take any part in Saturday’s match.
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