Premier League Betting: Wenger says too many signings could be Man City's downfall

Premier League / Editor / 07 August 2009 / Leave a Comment

Gareth Barry and Kolo Toure are just two of the high-profile recruits to have arrived at Eastlands this summer.

"If Wenger’s right about Martin O’Neill’s side they are great value at [3.1] to achieve their third successive top six finish – something the club have never managed since the Premier League began. It will depend heavily on finding the extra signings that their manager has promised before the window shuts."

Ralph Ellis tells us why if he were a gambler, Arsene Wenger would be pressing the lay button when it comes to Man City's chances of a top six finish.

There are famous cases of players, and teams, who clicked within seconds of working together. Jimmy Greaves struck up an instant understanding with Alan Gilzean, Kevin Keegan with John Toshack, Gary Lineker with Peter Beardsley. From time to time it happens.

But the very fact that these instances are among the legends of the game tells you that, mostly, it doesn't work like that at all. More often great partnerships, or beautifully balanced teams, come from endless days of work on the training ground. For instance at the opposite end of the pitch to those great strikers, the Arsenal back four, immortalised in The Full Monty for their use of the offside trap, gained their understanding because they spent hours of practice under George Graham's careful watch, at times literally tied together by ropes to make sure they moved as one.

So it's worth listening to another Arsenal manager discussing Manchester City's prospects today. Mark Hughes, armed with Middle Eastern money, has blitzed the summer transfer market and is still trying to do more with attempts to capture Joleon Lescott. It's made his team massive odds on at [1.42] to break into the top six. Now Arsene Wenger doesn't speak in betting language, but if he did he'd be shouting: "Lay, lay, lay".

Wenger has sold two of his top players to City in Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure, collected nearly £30million in the process, but reckons Hughes' team won't make the top six, never mind break into the Champions League places.

"They look like they have a great squad, quality wise, but sometimes when you buy more than three players you take a technical gamble," he's told today's Daily Mirror. "They have bought fantastic players but you have to ask if they will click or not in a few months. Nobody knows. I would say we are looking at a top six with Aston Villa and you could have one surprise."

If Wenger's right about Martin O'Neill's side they are great value at [3.1] to achieve their third successive top six finish - something the club have never managed since the Premier League began. It will depend heavily on finding the extra signings that their manager has promised before the window shuts.

Wenger doesn't mention Everton, who slid almost unnoticed into fifth place at the end of last season. Maybe he should have done. They also look value at [2.76] a top six finish. While Villa took City's money to part with Gareth Barry, Moyes is staying tough at the moment to keep Joleon Lescott. He's turned down bids of around £22million, ignored the player telling him he wants to go, and is hoping to get through this weekend without buckling. That's when it's believed Hughes will give up and go somewhere else. "If someone isn't available then sometimes you have to move on," City's manager has warned, knowing that the money men at Goodison could do with his cash. That impasse makes Lescott to stay a tempting punt at [4.4] on the Specials market.

Here's five things you might not know about Arsene Wenger

1.His parents Alphonse and Louise owned a car spare parts business and also a bistro, called La Croix d'Or, in the Strasbourg village of Duttlenheim where he grew up.

2.He's more than six feet tall now but as a kid he was nicknamed "petit" - or titch - by the other boys. He had a growth spurt at the age of 16

3.While he was at Monaco he was on the short list to be Bayern Munich's next manager, but the French club refused to let him talk to them - but then sacked him a few weeks later when the job was already filled

4. His favourite fruit is pomegranate, although he also likes mangoes

5. He's known for his obsession with football, going home to wife Annie Brosterhous and watching endless DVDs of matches after dinner. But he's also a big classical music buff and collects fine red wines