EPL Betting – Leicester Meet Man City for Top of Table

Leicester (+450) at Manchester City (-175), Draw (+3o0)

The top of the English Premier League table will be at stake this Saturday when Leicester and Manchester City clash at Etihad Stadium (7:45 AM Eastern).

Pegged to be a bottom-tier team at the outset of the season, Leicester are the surprise league leaders with 50 points. The team – which had to fight tooth-and-nail to avoid relegation last year – has won three of its last four games, including convincing wins over Stoke City (3-0) and Liverpool (2-0) in the last two.

Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri realizes that the results may not always come for his upstart squad, but will be happy if the effort remains.

“For me it’s important to see my players fight and try to win. Sooner or later we’ll lose a match but that’s not important. What’s important is how we lose. If there is a great goal from [an] opponent, well done – but we have to fight,” Ranieri said to the Daily Mail.

No one knows exactly how long the team’s Cinderella run will last, but it could easily span the 2015-16 season. Leicester have proven their defensive bona fides, conceding just 26 goals in 24 matches, and have a potent offense behind striker Jamie Vardy (18 goals in 24 matches).

Manchester City, on the contrary, have to be a bit disappointed in their season to date. They have 47 points in 24 games, only three behind Leicester; but with their roster of superstars, that’s can’t be considered success.

City management has already inked manager Pep Guardiola for next season, agreeing to part ways with Manuel Pellegrini at season’s end.

“My future is my present, I [will] try to win the next game and focus just on what we are doing,” Pellegrini said to Sky Sports. “I am not thinking about the future … for me it is very important now to focus on our next game, which is Leicester at home … [W]e will try [to] be top of the table”.

The Citizens haven’t lost in their past six, but they have drawn three in that span (3-3-0). Indeed, the Citizens have had a very hard time stringing victories together in the EPL, failing to win back to back games since October. After beating Sunderland last time out (1-0), they have a decent chance to do so tomorrow, given that they’re the best home side in the league this year (9-1-1).

But they’ll have to deal with a Leicester squad that has the best record on the road (7-4-1).

These two teams had a scoreless draw in their first meeting in October. Though City have scored 33 of their 46 goals at home, Leicester are playing tremendous defense at the moment. They should be able to leave Etihad with a point.

Pick: Draw (+300).

(Photo credit: Whassuo (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)