Liverpool vs. Man City Preview

This Monday evening sees the final game of the Premier League and the action comes from Eastlands as Manchester City take on Liverpool Let's have a look at this one and give out a couple of picks.

20:00 - Manchester City v Liverpool:

The first week of the Premier League held a lot of things in common for these two sides as they both drew their first matches and then won 1-0 in their Europa League playoff games in midweek, but who will take the honours in this match? Online sportsbook make Man City the favourites to collect all three points at odds of 2.38, with Liverpool available at 3.10 and the draw can be backed at odds of 3.20.

Last weekend Man City were on the back foot against Spurs at White Hart Lane and only came away with a draw thanks to the Man of the Match performance from goalkeeper Joe Hart. They looked disjointed and they were unable to fashion many chances to score, however they were away from home and Roberto Mancini will be hoping for a better performance in their first match at Eastlands this season. Roy Hodgson, on the other hand, will have been happy with the vast majority of the performance against Arsenal, with only the red card of Joe Cole on his debut and the own goal from Pepe Reina putting a damper on proceedings.

Both sides put the Premier League disappointments behind them in midweek as they both recorded 1-0 wins in the Europa League as Man City won 1-0 in Romania against FC Timisoara and Liverpool entertained and defeated Trabzonspor of Turkey by the same scoreline. However, will Man City's travels in mid week have worn them down? Will playing away against one of the pre-season title favourites away from Anfield level the playing field?

I happen to think that it will and my play on the outright market for this game will see my putting my money on the draw. I also feel that this game will be a low scoring match, and not just because there have been just four goals in the four games that these two sides have played so far this season. With the form that Joe Hart is in and with the way that Liverpool defended so well against Arsenal, I feel that both sides will find it difficult to find the net and, as a result of this, I will also be backing under 2.5 goals to be scored in the game. I'll be backing the draw @ 3.25 and under 2.5 goals at 1.73.

Recommendations:

• Manchester City v Liverpool to end as a draw @ 3.25
• Under 2.5 goals in the Man City v Liverpool game @ 1.73