Fulham v Man City: City’s improving away form spells doom for hosts

The Jekyll and Hyde nature of Manchester City was as bizarre as it was astounding.

Merciless at home, clueless away, the Citizens could be banked on to maul any visitor to the Etihad just as much as they could to falter at the home of relegation fodder.

These rather big creases in their designer, sky blue shirt are beginning to be ironed out, however, with City recording three wins from their last four trips, including one over mighty Bayern Munich at the Allianz, no less.

This news isn’t likely to spread festive cheer around Craven Cottage, where City’s odds for victory stand at 4/11 in comparison to Fulham’s beefy 13/2 and the 4/1 for the draw.

A key factor behind City’s away-day reinvigoration has been their remembering to pack the manual used to instruct the players before they play at home.

The unstoppable flood of goals that drowns opponents at the Etihad typically dried up on the road, but the three goals they’ve bagged on their last four away trips suggests this aliment is overcome.

Manuel Pellegrini’s men are 1/1 to score between two and three goals again, which looks an especially good price when you measure it up with the fact that the Cottagers have conceded either number in five of their previous seven outings.

Another important fact to consider is that Fulham have put exactly one goal past the visiting net-minder in seven of their eight home matches this term. With City conceding in all but one of their eight Premier League sojourns, this trend is likely to stretch.

This signposts the correct score market as the place to go for value and, assuming the sequences both sides have established continue a wager on City to win either 2-1 (8/1) or 3-1 (10/1) may well reap reward.

Adding further favour in support of this is the stat that only four of City’s 16 top-flight encounters this season have finished with the 2.5 total goals barrier remaining intact. Another overs instalment here pays out at 8/15.

All odds and markets accurate as of publication’s time and date

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