Careful Man City! There’s juice aplenty in Man Utd top four odds
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Manchester City are 1/8 for a top-four finish after Manchester United blew a 2-1 lead and a chance to overtake them against West Ham in midweek.
United, meanwhile, are 9/2 to supplant the incumbent Citizens after that midweek setback left them trailing City by two points with one game remaining.
Manuel Pellegrini’s men also boast an elephantine 18-strike goal difference advantage over their rivals, meaning only one set of results will see the two sides swap places, banishing Pep Guardiola to the Europa League in the process.
United need the Spaniard’s soon-to-be side to fall to a 19/4-rated defeat at resurgent Swansea City, while justifying 4/11 favouritism by besting Bournemouth at Old Trafford.
The Red-Devil-delighting double pays its backers at nigh-on 7/1, but both results happening simultaneously is far from the pie in the sky such odds suggest.
Inside the Swans’ last ten games they’ve scalped a selection of divisional aristocracy, with Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool among their victims as well as upwardly mobile West Ham.
Since Francesco Guidolin took over from caretaker manager Alan Curtis the Welsh side have shipped a mere three times in seven games at the Liberty Stadium to offer further evidence they can thwart their guests.
City have been in less than convincing form of late, winning once in their last six outings and losing two of the last three, with both of those losses on the road.
The Swans were unlucky not to get a draw at the Etihad amid their December doldrums and, with the good times rolling once more, a home win is far from out of the question.
United will need to fulfill their part of the bargain against a team that beat them on the south coast regardless.
They can draw upon rock solid home form in doing so, having won seven of their last ten at Old Trafford ahead of the encounter, drawing the remaining three.
Opponents Bournemouth seemed to have put their feet up after the win over Aston Villa that banished the spectre of relegation for the season and should be tame enough to roll over and have their belly tickled.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
