By: Fasika Zelealem
Manchester City Odds Against Bournemouth for July 15th
With Bournemouth needing all the points they can get to stave off relegation, an away trip to a Manchester City side that has won back-to-back 5-0 victories isn’t exactly the best way to get out of the relegation zone.
Bournemouth sits in 18th place on 31 points, three behind Watford and West Ham United with three games remaining. The Cherries possess an inferior goal difference to both sides above them and a damaging loss to Manchester City can further increase that.
They earned their first win in eight games since February after a thrilling 4-1 victory over fourth-placed Leicester City. Despite going 1-0 down in the first half through Jamie Vardy’s 23rd goal of the season, a Dominic Solanke double as well as a Junior Stanislas penalty and an own goal from Jonny Evans secured a hugely important win for the side.
They now travel to Manchester City who has dismantled both Newcastle United and Brighton & Hove Albion 5-0 in their last two games. Raheem Sterling scored his second league hat-trick this season against Brighton and in looks in fine form ahead of the game.
While the game against Bournemouth doesn’t mean much for City in the grand scheme of things, they are heading into an important period of the season as they take on Arsenal in the FA Cup semi-final in a few days as well as taking on Real Madrid in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final match-up in early August.
Manchester City Odds Against the Cherries
Despite the season looking like a forgettable one so far for City, an FA Cup triumph as well their first-ever European title added to the Carabao Cup they’ve already secured will certainly make it a historic and successful season for Pep Guardiola and his players.
Sorry, there’s more bad news for you Bournemouth fans heading into this game. In the 15 games you’ve played against City, you have never, that’s right, never won against them.
Since their promotion in 2015, they’ve faced Manchester City nine times and lost all nine times. City has scored four or more goals in four of those nine games. The reverse fixture back in August was a 3-1 win for City at Vitality Stadium.
Sportsbooks odds on City winning a third game in a row opens at -800. Bournemouth’s odds of defeating City for the first time opens at +1600. Odds on a draw opens at +850.
What is Raheem Sterling’s Ceiling?
With Sterling’s hat-trick against Brighton, he’s now netted career-high 27 goals in all competitions, defeating his previous best of 25 goals last season. It’s another marker of the continuing improvement in Sterling’s game and his growth in becoming one of the top players in the Premier League.
He’s scored 18, 17 and 17 goals in his last three Premier League campaigns with an opportunity to go past his record of 18 with three games left this season. At just 25 years of age, he is one of City’s cornerstones and arguably England’s best player.
I believe Sterling has the potential to be one of the best players in the world and to see his growth under Guardiola has been something special.
