Betting Preview: Stoke vs Man City

Our chosen betting feature this week centres around a very interesting encounter, with two of the most contrasting styles you could possible put against one another clashing when Premier League champions Man City travel to Stoke.

Although Mancini's side will go into the game as strong favourites, a number of trends tend to occur when The Citizens make the trip to The Britannia Stadium, which will give Stoke’s fans plenty of cause for hope. The Potters have already begun their season with 3 successive draws and the likelihood of that run continuing may not be too far-fetched.

In their last 3 league home games against City, The Potters have earned hard-fought points, with an after extra time FA Cup win sandwiched in between after the two sides could not be separated in 90 minutes. The fact that Stoke have only lost 1 of their last 11 home matches against teams that finished in the top 6 last season, drawing 7, is indisputable proof that The Britannia is one of the toughest stadiums to visit for the big clubs, if not the toughest. With this in mind, the odds on a draw from William Hill of 3.20 are very tempting.

If you are keen to explore this avenue in more detail it is worth noting that all of the last 4 encounters in all competitions between the sides in Stoke have ended 1-1 after 90 minutes. With the odds of a repeat of that 1-1 scoreline currently at 7.50 there will be plenty of takers, so get in quick if it takes your fancy. The patterns don't stop there either. In all 4 of said match ups the two sides have been level at both half time and full time, with odds of 5.50 reflecting that trend.

Moreover, these encounters generally go right to the wire. Indeed, neither side have scored in the opening half of the last 4 meetings at Stoke, so a goalless first half could be likely. Going into even more detail, City have left it very late to take anything from games at The Britannia, scoring in the final 15 minutes in all four of the aforementioned meetings. Odds on City to score their first goal after the 75th minute may also be of interest, at 8.50.

Moving onto the goalscorer markets, one man is an intriguing long shot to score, with that phrase quite apt when discussing Aleksandar Kolarov. The WhoScored match forecast suggests that City are 'very likely' to score from a direct free-kick due to their strength in doing so and Stoke's tendency to give away fouls in dangerous areas. The left-back is likely to start ahead of Clichy, and going along with our previous tip of City scoring late on, odds on the Serbian to score last are at a mouth-watering 17.00.

After Yaya Toure's superb start to the season, odds on the Ivorian adding to his two-goal tally after scoring in the last two games are at 10.00 to be first or last scorer, and 4.33 anytime. It's hard to see past Stoke's main goal threat Peter Crouch when looking where the hosts' success will come from, and 10.00 to open the scoring as he did in quite spectacular fashion in the fixture last season will see him well backed.