Wolves v Man City: Betting Preview

Wolves v Man City

Live on Sky Sports 1. Kick of 7.45pm

Roberto Mancini has got off to a flying start with Manchester City and now his side travel to face Mick McCarthy’s Wolves. Betfair’s Dan ‘The Betting Man’ Fitch fancies City to continue their winning ways.

It’s the second game of Roberto Mancini’s reign at Manchester City, as he takes his multi-million pound squad to Wolves. Another victory will be on the agenda, but they may find that the home side make for stubborn opposition.

The 2-0 win over Stoke that was enjoyed by Mancini on Boxing Day, was not as comprehensive a result as the stark scoreline suggests. Though a clean sheet was kept for the first time in seven games, the defence still looked shaky and Stoke had their share of chances.

Robinho also put in the sort of performance that suggests he is no more motivated to play for City under Mancini than he was when Hughes was manager. The Brazilian was abysmal until substituted for Bellamy in the second half and Mancini may well see him as a luxury that City cannot afford, for this particular away trip.

Wolves went into the Christmas fixtures with three wins from their last four games and were clearly intent on causing another upset against Liverpool, against whom they started with an attacking 4-4-2 formation.

Though Wolves did not concede at Anfield for over an hour, their attacking intentions allowed Liverpool plenty of possession. It will be interesting to see if Mick McCarthy fields the same formation against a City side, that played with only Tevez up front against Stoke.

I would expect Mancini to again pack his midfield against Wolves, not just to protect his leaky defence, but also because he has few strikers to choose from. Adebayor will be away on African Nations Cup duty with Togo, while Santa Cruz is injured. Elsewhere, Shaun Wright-Phillips has an outside of returning to City’s right wing after an ankle injury.

When the goalscorer markets open on Betfair closer to kick off, expect Tevez to lead the betting at around 6.5 to score first and 2.7 to score at any time. Bellamy should be around 7.0 and 3.0, while for Wolves, Kevin Doyle will be near to 10.0 and 4.3.

There’s not much in the way of recent history between the two sides. City won 1-0 at home earlier on in the season, but their last meeting at Molineux came back in 2003 and ended in a 1-0 win for Wolves.

Prior to the result against Stoke, City had broken the 2.5 goals barrier in 7 of their previous 8 games. However, I expect Mancini to be particularly Italian in his efforts to tighten his side up and therefore the 1.98 for under 2.5 goals appeals, with over 2.5 at 2.0.

Wolves are 5.1 to win, with the draw at 3.8 and Manchester City at 1.82. This is a very tricky one to predict. Given their record this season then the price on a draw or a lay of City, seems like excellent value, but we must not discount the impact that a new manager can have on a team.

I suspect that Mancini’s presence will inspire a second victory. 1-0 to City is 8.4, with 2-0 at 10.0. In the half time/full time market, City are 3.05 to be winning before and after the break, with the draw/City at 5.1.

Manchester City are 2.58 to keep a second successive clean sheet, with Wolves at 5.6 to do likewise. Only Birmingham have scored less than Wolves at home this season and I think that Shay Given will be spared having to pick the ball out of his net.

Recommended Bets:

• Back under 2.5 goals @ 1.98
• Back a Manchester City clean sheet @ 2.58
• 1-0 Manchester City @ 8.4

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