Premier League Betting Preview: Manchester City v Bolton

Premier League / Jaymes Monte / 08 February 2010 / Leave a Comment

Adam Johnson could start for City after impressing as a substitute against Hull

"We need only to look at Burnley’s contrasting home and away from this season to see the emphasis that Coyle places on picking up points at home. He has yet to taste anything but defeat on his travels for Bolton."

City need to get back to winning ways if they are to maintain their fourth place ambitions. Jaymes Monte reports on the betting opportunities for Tuesday night's game...

Any lingering hopes of a title challenge in the blue half of Manchester were extinguished by Saturday's lacklustre defeat at Hull. Now Roberto Mancini and his players must focus their attentions on claiming that fourth Champions League spot. By winning both of their games in hand, City could move three points ahead of Liverpool and four ahead of Spurs.

The positives to come out of that defeat against Hull were the substitute appearances of new signings Adam Johnson and Patrick Viera and the return from injury of Wayne Bridge. Mancini stated in his post-match interview that he was happy with the way Johnson and Viera's introductions changed the game which suggests that they could be in line for a more prominent role against Bolton this Tuesday.

Owen Coyle was aggrieved at a refereeing decision which cost his side all three points against Fulham on Saturday, but the point was enough to see them sneak out of the relegation zone. Gary Cahill missed that game after being taken ill on Friday which has later transpired to be a blood clot in his arm that is likely to rule him out for the season. Andy O'Brien and Fabrice Muamba both picked up knocks against Fulham and are a doubt for the trip to Eastlands leaving Coyle's squad a little thin on the ground.

That won't do much to bolster Bolton's slim chances of inflicting Manchester City's first home defeat of the season and adds credence to the idea that City are a value back at [1.5]. We need only to look at Burnley's contrasting home and away from this season to see the emphasis that Coyle places on picking up points at home and he has yet to taste anything but defeat on his travels for Bolton. One glimmer of hope for layers of Man City, or backers of the draw at [4.4], is the reminder that Burnley did come to Eastlands and snatch a point under Coyle's stewardship back in November. A repeat of that 3-3 scoreline (which was also the score when City travelled to the Reebok this season) is available at [100.00].

Mancini has instilled some typically Italian defensive solidity since those days and City have now kept three clean sheets in six league games since his appointment. Bolton haven't been scoring many of late either - just three in five games since Coyle's induction - so a back of under 2.5 goals at [2.26] looks a good trading price if not an outright punt. And a Man City clean sheet at [2.3] may also be worth an interest.

I'll finish on a mention of the corners markets. Only Hull have conceded more corners than Bolton this season and City enjoy giving the corner flag some close attention at Eastlands - there were 17 in each of their last two home games. You can either have a shoe in back of City in the corners match bet at [1.3] or go for the slightly more appealing [2.0] on there being 13 or more corners in the game.

Mancini may have already lost more games than Mark Hughes had done all season but it was the abundance of draws which lost the Welshman his job. CIty need to take all three points here in order to stay in the fight for fourth place.