Norwich City at Manchester City Betting Preview
20 August 2021
As the Citizens welcome Norwich to the Etihad on Saturday, both teams are looking for their first points of the young season. Man City went on the road in the opener and lost 1-0 at Tottenham Sunday. Meanwhile, Norwich’s return to the Premier League after one year in the Championship was a disaster with a 3-0 home loss to Liverpool.
Where is Man City’s Offense?
Since Pep Guardiola arrived in Manchester, the squad has had no trouble scoring. But all of a sudden, they have played two straight competitive games without a goal, falling 1-0 to Leicester City in the Community Shield and the 1-0 loss to Spurs.
Kevin de Bruyne came off the bench late against Spurs and made an immediate impact, but City couldn’t get the equalizer. The Belgian could carve the Canaries to pieces if he is given an extended run on Saturday.
Raheem Sterling, Ferran Torres, and Riyad Mahrez were largely ineffective against Spurs. Sterling came off for Gabriel Jesus, and it will be interesting to see what Pep’s combination is against Norwich City. Citizens fans are prime to see what Grealish and de Bruyne can do together, and they may get their wish this weekend.
Unkind Schedule for Norwich
When the Canaries came right back up from the Championship, they couldn’t have imagined a scenario where they opened the season against the last two champions. But here they are, having lost to 2019-20 winners Liverpool and now about to face 2020-21 winners in Man City.
Keeper Tim Krul was powerless to stop the Reds last weekend, and he may be in for a long 90 minutes this weekend too. The good news for Norwich is they managed 50% possession against Liverpool at home but don’t expect City to give them that much of the ball this time around.
Norwich has plenty of Premier League experience from two seasons ago with forwards Teemu Pukki and Todd Cantwell along with midfielder Billy Gilmour. Defender Max Aaron is back as well, along with Krul. The Canaries handed young American striker Josh Sargent his Premier League debut off the bench last week after a transfer from Werder Bremen.
City Break Through
The last time these teams met at the Etihad was with an empty stadium in July 2020, and City won 5-0. Norwich took the first meeting that season, 3-2 at Carrow Road. They last won in Manchester in 2013 but had the best road record in the Championship last season with 15 wins and four defeats.
It is hard to imagine Norwich hanging with this City team for a full 90. Sterling, de Bruyne, Grealish, Jesus, Mahrez, and company are just too much. There’s no way Guardiola gets the team choices wrong again this week, so look for City to break through before they face Arsenal, Leicester City, and Chelsea in the next four games.
Norwich City at Manchester City Picks
Saturday, August 21, 10:00 am ET
Dunkel Ratings Norwich City 7.592; Manchester City 8.912
Dunkel Line & Total Manchester City -1.5; 3 goals
Vegas Line and Total: Manchester City -1000; 4 goals
Dunkel Pick Manchester City -1000; Under
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