English Premier League Soccer Tips
The Barclay’s Premier League gets back on course this weekend after a layoff for Euro Cup 2016 qualifying last week. This weekend features a match between Tottenham (3-2-2) and Manchester City (4-2-1) at the Etihad Stadium.
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EPL Betting Lines
Spurs vs. MANC
When: Saturday, Oct 18th at 7:45am ET
Where: Etihad Stadium
TV: TSN
EPL Line: Manchester City -1.0 -1.5
EPL O/U: 3
Matchup Insight
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There are strong implications for both sides in this match up between two of the top six teams in the EPL. For City, they absolutely need a victory to keep pace with league leaders Chelsea who appear to be nearly unstoppable right now. On the Spurs’ side of things, they are in a dead heat for the fourth and final Champions League spot, tied for fourth with both Manchester United and Swansea City on 11 points.
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A win would be ideal for Spurs in this one, though I’m certain they would be happy to walk out of the Etihad with a draw. For City, it’s win at all costs, they can ill-afford to slide further than the five points they trail Chelsea by, especially since they already drew their home tie with the league leaders.
Let’s compare these two sides.
Manchester City
With just one loss to speak of after seven matches, you’d expect that City would be at or very near the top of the league table at this juncture. Not so; they’ve dropped points at Arsenal and at home to Chelsea. Those results aren’t anything to be ashamed of as a split with top clubs is never bad, but their 1-0 loss to Stoke at home has really put them behind the eight ball early.
City sit five points back of Chelsea for tops in the EPL and they essentially need to rattle off a great streak of wins if they want to defend their title. The Cityzens have been on a good run of form in the EPL of late with wins over Aston Villa and Hull City following their 1-1 draw with Chelsea.
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Striker Sergio Aguero has found his scoring touch, potting goals in his last two matches and usually when Aguero is scoring, City are winning games.
If there’s one thing to be cautious of if you’re picking City here, it’s that they looked a bit unsure on the attack for much of their 2-0 win over Villa, with both goals coming after the 80th minute.
This is still a team however that can dominate possession and have a ton of creativity moving forward.
Tottenham
There is probably less riding on this match for Spurs as they really don’t have a legitimate shot at winning the league this year.
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A berth in the UEFA Champions League is very much up for grabs however as aside from City and Chelsea, the other two spots could go to almost anyone at this point (fourth place and 12th place are separated by just two points).
The Spurs are sitting in a three way tie for fourth and a road point at City would be huge for them this week. Despite a pretty pedestrian 3-2-2 record, Spurs have not lost on the road yet this season with a win over West Ham and draws at Sunderland and Arsenal. A 1-0 win at home over third place Southampton in their last EPL match should have breathed some life into this club.
Defensively this team has been very sound and they are backstopped by world class French keeper Hugo Lloris. Spurs have surrendered just four goals in their last six matches in all competitions.
Tottenham vs Manchester City Free Pick
Spurs defend well and I expect that they’ll be coming into this match with the goal of frustrating City and limiting their chances. City should have blown Villa out of the water last week and were only saved by two late goals. Cit’y’s inability to finish early last week makes me nervous to pick them on that 1.5 spread so I’m going with Spurs to keep this one close.
4* FREE EPL Pick Spurs +1, +1.5 (-117)
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