EPL Betting – Man City, Spurs Clash at Etihad

Tottenham (+260) at Manchester City (+110), Draw (+275)

Both Tottenham and Manchester City find themselves chasing Leicester City at the top of the EPL table. Both need a win to keep their title hopes strong when they meet this Sunday at Etihad Stadium (11:15 AM Eastern).

As things stand, four teams look to have a legitimate shot at winning the EPL title: Leicester, Tottenham, Man City, and Arsenal. As it happens, those four teams are crossing paths this weekend. (Leicester visits Arsenal at the Emirates.) The top of the table could see a bit of a shakeup come Monday.

Leicester are sitting on 53 points after 25 games; the two London teams, Tottenham and Arsenal, are tied for second with 48 while City are fourth with 47.

The Citizens had a great chance to make up ground on the Leicester last weekend, hosting the Foxes at Etihad. But Leicester dominated from start to finish and left Manchester with a 3-1 win. The setback snapped City’s 4-1-0 streak at home.

The loss was just the latest lopsided setback for Man City against top competition this year. Earlier, they lost to Liverpool and Tottenham by identical 4-1 scores, and they were downed 2-0 by Arsenal a few weeks back.

The defense will be shored up this weekend, though, with the return of captain Vincent Kompany.

“Vincent has worked for three weeks with no problems. He played 45 minutes in a friendly game against the under-21s and I think he’s ready to play,” said manager Manuel Pellegrini to the team’s official website.

Kompany’s return is much needed with Tottenham on the slate. Spurs have won four straight, downing Sunderland (4-1), Crystal Palace (1-3), Norwich (0-3), and Watford (1-0). None of those squads are the stiffest of competition, but the wins have boosted the team’s confidence.

“We believe that we can win at City; the most important thing is that we can show that we can win,” said Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino to the Mirror.

Before Tottenham’s 4-1 victory in September, Manchester City had won four straight in the series, outscoring Spurs 16-2.  The last time there was a draw in this series was back in 2010.  However, with both teams desperate to avoid the loss, this is a perfect time to bet the draw.

Pick: Draw (+275). 

(Photo credit: Дмитрий Голубович (soccer.ru) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)