Watford v Man City betting tips: Champions face unpredictable Hornets
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Watford v Man City betting tips and odds
Premier League champions Manchester City kept pace with leaders Chelsea on Wednesday when Bernardo Silva’s spectacular volley helped secure a battling 2-1 win at Aston Villa, but they have another tough test on their hands this weekend.
Watford were unlucky not to get a point against Chelsea on the same night, but Emmanuel Dennis’ smart finish proved in vain as Hakim Ziyech wrapped up the win 18 minutes from time.
City are 2/11 favourites to win a fifth successive Premier League game, but let’s look at some of the other options in our Watford v Man City betting tips.
Match Odds
Hornets boss Claudio Ranieiri said it was “unbelievable what happened” having pushed the Premier League leaders all the way during Wednesday’s 2-1 defeat after which counterpart Thomas Tuchel admitted his team had been “lucky” to win.
Watford have scored 12 goals and conceded 16 during Ranieri’s seven games in charge and there has been a winner on each occasion, so we are unlikely to see a draw at Vicarage Road.
The Hornets destroyed Manchester United 4-1 and fired five past Everton at Goodison Park, but equally they let in five against Liverpool and four at Leicester.
“Everyone to do with Watford wishes the guy a speedy recovery.” 💛
🗣 Danny Rose spoke after last night's match at Vicarage Road…
— Watford Football Club (@WatfordFC) December 2, 2021
A Manchester double is priced at 14/1, while City to win and concede, as they have in their last two games against West Ham and Aston Villa, is available at 9/5.
City to win 2-1 for a third successive match is 9/1, but the visitors have kept a joint-high eight clean sheets and are 17/20 to win to nil.
In their last four wins, City were leading at the break, so can be backed at 4/6 to be up at half-time and full-time, although they are 11/10 to be in front after half an hour as they have been in six of their games this season.
Talking Tactics
Ranieri stuck with a 4-1-4-1 against Chelsea in which Josh King led the line with Dennis and the equally dangerous Joao Pedro on the flanks in the absence of Ismaila Sarr, who is out for a month with a knee ligament injury.
Daniel Bachmann will start in goal as a replacement for Ben Foster who is out until January with a groin strain. Defender Adam Masina is likely to miss out having been taken off 12 minutes into the game, so Danny Rose is likely to start.
Another important result away from home! Thanks to everyone who supported us tonight. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 Let’s keep pushing. #cmoncity 💪🏾 pic.twitter.com/Td4jLl32Tv
— Fernandinho (@fernandinho) December 1, 2021
Pep Guardiola was without John Stones, Kyle Walker and Ilkay Gundogan with niggling injuries, but on the plus side Jack Grealish came on for the last three minutes at his former club Aston Villa.
It remains to be seen whether Kevin De Bruyne will be availabe despite his latest Covid test proving negative, having been unable to train in the build-up to the win at Villa.
Goalscorer Odds
City tend to spread their goals throughout the team so picking the first goalscorer is a tough task but Phil Foden, who did not get off the bench at Villa Park despite recovering from injury, is 7/2 to break the deadlock or 21/10 in the anytime market.
Guardiola described Silva as “the best” following his stunning strike against Villa and the Portuguese is 5/1 and 13/8 in the two markets, while Ruben Dias is 33/1 to open the scoring in back-to-back games or 10/1 to find the net.
Dennis and King are both 12/1 to bag the opener or 4/1 and 7/2 respectively to score, while Joao Pedro should not be dismissed at 14/1 and 9/2 as the last of our Watford v Man City betting tips.
Match Info
Where: Vicarage Road
When: 17:30, Saturday 4th December
How to watch: Sky Sports
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
