Man City v Norwich – Preview, Predictions and Best Bets

Man City host Norwich at the Etihad Stadium in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon. Guardiola’s side are in some poor form in terms of results and are three matches without scoring. They face a Norwich side who they beat 5-0 the last time the sides met and who have lost 11 straight matches in the Premier League.

Man City Form

City have lost six of their last 14 marches having won 37 of their previous 43 matches (keeping 26 clean sheets). Pep Guardiola’s side ended last season by losing at home to Chelsea and at 3-2 at Brighton. Ahead of the Champions League final, they thrashed Everton 5-0.

City lost 1-0 to Chelsea in the Champions League final and have looked somewhat toothless this season with a 1-0 defeat to Leicester in the Community Shield and 1-0 to Tottenham in the opening Premier League match last weekend.

Man City Team News

Phil Foden is still absent in midfield and Ilkay Gundogan is a doubt with a shoulder problem. Kevin de Bruyne returned against Spurs as a substitute and could start this match.

Some of those players who were late to return to training in Aymeric Laporte, John Stones and Gabriel Jesus are pushing to return to the starting XI. Ferran Torres is most at threat of losing his spot in attack whilst Benjamin Mendy could be dropped at left-back.

Man City Motivation

City will be very motivated to get back to winning ways and their true form. They will attack and look to score as many goals as possible to improve their confidence.

Guardiola won’t shut up shop at any point with the schedule not as taxing as last year where he was satisfied to get to 2-0 before taking his foot off the pedal.

Norwich Form

Norwich cruised to the Championship title last season and were guaranteed promotion with five matches left to play after a run of 11 wins in 13 matches. The side got complacent after that with defeats to Bournemouth and Watford.

Norwich lost all of their final 10 matches the last time they were in the top flight and their defeat to Liverpool on the opening day made it 11 straight losses at this level.

Norwich Team News

Winger Onel Hernandez is still out due to COVID-19 and is not expected to return. Norwich really missed the aggression of Oliver Skipp in midfield after the end of his loan spell from Tottenham. Emi Buendia’s sale to Aston Villa has also left the side short of creativity.

Todd Cantwell recovered from a knock to play against Liverpool but was used in a wider role. Kenny McLean could be an option to come into midfield to add more physicality and make the side harder to break down.

Norwich Motivation

Norwich are simply not set up to sit with ten men behind the ball and play on the counter attack. There will be space for City to exploit and Norwich probably will cause Guardiola’s side some problems with their possession football.

However, there is a real chance that this match could therefore be a repeat of the 5-0 loss the last time these sides met as the Canaries don’t shut up shop when down by a couple of goals.

Key Stats

Norwich lost 5-0 at City in their last meeting

Norwich have lost their last 11 PL matches

Man City have seen 6 losses in their last 14 matches

Man City have kept 3 clean sheets in their last 4 matches against Man City

City have failed to score in the last 3 matches

Norwich have conceded 22 goals in their last 8 PL matches

Prediction

This is the perfect match for City to get back to winning ways. Norwich look ripe for another thrashing at the hands of the Citizens. Going for winning margin bets looks the only way to get value with this being a home banker in the eyes of the bookies.