Man City and Liverpool Both Have Much to Prove
By MICHAEL DA SILVA
Following their 1-0 wins in the Europa League, Manchester City and Liverpool return for a Monday night Premier League showdown under the Eastlands floodlights.
Is this the night that Carlos Tevez will shine? Can new signing James Milner follow Mario Balotelli’s lead by scoring on his debut? Or will the suave Roberto Mancini be twitching in his seat under the glare of Sheikh Mansour? I’ll go with option C.
Through the capture of James Milner (who Roberto Mancini ensures is his last recruit, for now at least), the City revolution is shaping up to its completion. They face a tough 90 minutes against visiting Liverpool – a team they must defeat if reality is to match their lofty ambitions.
But City will struggle to beat an improved Liverpool side that were only denied victory over Arsenal through an uncharacteristic spill by the still reliable Pepe Reina.
A Liverpool team featuring Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres, Dirk Kuyt and Javier Mascherano won’t lie down and I fully expect them to grab a score draw in Manchester, with +600 for a 1-1 tie the most enticing of the bets on offer.
City were torn apart by Tottenham time and time again last week and Liverpool, given their attacking options, should score at Eastlands. Joe Hart’s match winning performance was impressive but he can’t be expected to save them every week, especially as Joleon Lescott is expected to come in at left-back to replace Aleksander Kolarov and Wayne Bridge, who are both on the treatment table.
The ease with which Spurs created chances should be noted if you are considering backing a Man City clean sheet. Something I wouldn’t advise unless, perhaps, they were facing Wigan.
Christian Poulsen made an impressive debut for Liverpool against Trabzonspor on Thursday, showing a dogged perseverance in central midfield – something they missed last season. Along with Mascherano, Liverpool are equipped to contain City more effectively than most.
But Mascherano is no stranger to losing his head in the heat of the battle and, should be backed to see yellow (+150 at any time), given that he will come toe-to-toe with the likes of Nigel De Jong and Yaya Toure on Monday.
Torres, who is approaching full fitness, should be in line to start his first Premier League game of the season and, if he does, odds of +150 to score at any time are too good to resist.
On City’s side, they have potential goal scorers from every position on the pitch. Just, apparently, not Craig Bellamy. But with live-wire Mario Balotelli netting on his debut with an impressive display against Romanian outfit FC Timisoara, his confidence will be buoyed and I consider him an excellent bet at +200 to score at any time.
Pick: Draw (+225)
Fulham (+621) vs Manchester United (-183)
Three weeks ago, Alex Ferguson claimed he was at Fulham’s pre-season friendly with Werder Bremen to watch Fulham, Manchester United’s opponents this weekend, and not Mesut Ozil. Only Sunday’s game will tell us whether the Scot meant it…
United enjoyed a relatively easy 3-0 stroll to victory against Newcastle last week and Fulham, albeit resilient opposition, will suffer a similar fate, despite beating United on their last two trips to Craven Cottage.
While Wayne Rooney continues to endure the longest barren spell for club and country of his career, United fans were relieved to see Dimitar Berbatov in sparkling form against Newcastle. The Bulgarian scored and was involved in much of United’s approach play, and I consider him well worth backing to score against Fulham at odds of +300
Likewise Paul Scholes, who seems to defy his age every week, was pulling the strings against Newcastle as he did a week earlier against Chelsea in the Community Shield. While the 35-year-old may be shy in front of the cameras, he certainly isn’t shy of shooting from distance and, given the form he is in, Scholes is also worth backing to score at any time, with tempting odds of +500 on offer.
I can see Scholes inspiring United to a win-to-nil against Fulham (+150), who have a resolute defence but sometimes struggle to find the net, especially if Bobby Zamora is not on top form.
A further concern to Fulham is the future of the reliable and commanding Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who is believed to be on his way to Arsenal. For that very reason, the relatively inexperienced David Stockdale could be in line to start between the posts for Fulham, making a clean sheet for the west Londoners somewhat unlikely.
Pick: Over 2.5 goals (+100)