Pep Guardiola is not able spend a penny on new players on Black Friday but it’s sure as eggs are eggs that he will be splashing out on fresh faces in the January sales.
Manchester City have lost five consecutive matches for the first time since 2006 when Stuart Pearce was in charge and Saturday’s 4-0 humiliation against Tottenham was their heaviest ever defeat at the Etihad Stadium.
The losing streak started with a 2-1 Carabao Cup exit against Spurs and Guardiola won’t want to draw them in next week’s draw for the third round of the FA Cup, but he has more pressing matters to deal with as his team must find their form before Sunday’s crunch trip to Anfield.
Premier League leaders Liverpool will be 11 points above City in the standings if they win that one, while defeat could send Pep’s players plummeting out of the top four if other results go against them.
City gave drifted to 7/2 across the board to win the title, a lovely price for punters who still have faith in them embarking on one of their trademark unbeatable surges to yet another title, with Liverpool 5/6 with bet365, Betfred, Bet Victor, BoyleSports and Sky Bet and Arsenal 10/3 with numerous firms.
It’s obvious City are in desperate need of a massive confidence boost and it should come when they entertain Feyenoord in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
The Dutch side are no great shakes in terms of European pedigree and have taken just six points from four games in this year’s competition, beating Girona and Benfica but losing to Bayer Leverkusen and RB Salzburg.
City were beaten 4-1 at Sporting in their last Champions League outing but after starting their campaign with a 0-0 draw at home to Inter Milan they crushed Bratislava 5-0, then walloped Sparta Prague 4-0, and could take their frustrations out on their Dutch visitors.
There will be relief all round the Etihad when City lead HT/FT at 4/6 with bet365.
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Feyenoord have failed to score just twice this season and a 3-1 home win is 10/1 with William Hill, a City victory with both teams hitting the net is 17/10 with BoyleSports and they go 21/20 there are more than 3.5 goals.
Phil Foden is 6/1 to break the deadlock with Ladbrokes, Coral, Bet Victor and Sky Bet and 13/8 with the latter to score at any point.
• Arsenal may think they have caught a break by visiting Sporting after Ruben Amorim’s move to Manchester United but the Portuguese champions have not skipped a beat since his departure, winning 4-2 at Braga then 6-0 at home to lower-league Amarante in the cup. A draw would be a decent return for the Gunners and that’s 13/5 with Bet Victor.
• Leicester failed to reach a financial agreement with Graham Potter when they wanted him to be their manager in the summer and opted for Steve Cooper as the cheaper alternative. That was a costly mistake and they should go back to plan A and appoint the former Brighton and Chelsea boss as their new manager which is 3/1 with Bet Victor.
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