Manchester City was handed a major gift midweek when West Ham knocked off Manchester United. The Citizens held in fourth place on the BPL table with just one match left to play, a result which leaves them just one point away from heading to the Champions League next season.
In Manuel Pellegrini's last match with the squad, Man City will go to work in search of at least that one point against Swansea City.
Soccer Odds at BookMaker.eu
Swansea City +400
Manchester City -175
Draw +350
Over/Under 3.5 (under -149)
ODDS ANALYSIS
History suggests that this match could end up being a really high-scoring affair, especially when you consider the fact that the Swans have nothing on the line save for the right to play the role of spoilers. Swansea City could still finish this year anywhere from ninth with a win to 13th with a loss, but none of that truly matters. Winning a ninth match in 19 at home would be a far greater joy, especially with that match coming against Manchester City.
The tale is far different for the Citizens. They need one point to dismiss the notion of Manchester United catching them for the last Champions League spot, and though they could still win down Arsenal for third best with a win and a Gunners' loss on the final day of the year, no one in Manchester is going to be all that concerned with that possibility.
City has only gone 7-6-5 on the road this year with 23 goals in 18 away fixtures, yet it's favored at -175 on the moneyline alongside a very high total of 3.5 and -149 vig on the under.
KEY INJURIES
The end of the season didn't go well for the Swans on the injury front. They've lost Lukasz Fabianski, Jefferson Montero, Alberto Paloschi, Gylfi Sigudrsson, Neil Taylor and Ashley Williams for the run-in, and they've made it a point to essentially give time off to any of their stars who are preparing for Euro 2016, a tournament which starts in just a few short weeks.
Manchester City will be asking all of its stars to forget about the Euros and go for it in this final match of the year. It's got to be hard to care about this fixture though, especially after this team watched Vincent Kompany go down last week with a thigh injury which will cost him Euro 2016 for Belgium.
Aleksander Kolarov, Davd Silva, Samir Nasri and Pablo Zabaleta are the question marks, and their statuses are worth watching for sure heading into the last day of the campaign.
LIVE BETTING
Francesco Guidolin has been retained for the next two years after coming to the club in January and guiding it comfortably away from the relegation scrap. That alone should give the Swans a ton of confidence, and they'd love nothing more than to wrap up with a third straight victory after beating Liverpool and West Ham in a span of just six days to kick off May.
Manchester City has been brutally disappointing of late. The team drew 2-2 against Arsenal last weekend, a result which many wondered if it would've spelled disaster for UCL hopes. That came on the heels of a 4-2 loss at Southampton and a 1-0 loss over 180 minutes against Real Madrid to crash out at the penultimate stage of the Champions League.
QUICK PICK
We've got one team playing some of its best ball of the year and one playing some of its worst at a very inopportune time.
In this situation, we love backing the underdog, especially on the Asian Handicap. Swansea City has played five straight over games, and with the fine form Guidolin has coaxed out of Andre Ayew and Bafetimbi Gomis, who have combined to score 17 times this year for the club, why can't the hosts pull off this upset?
A point would suit both Swansea and Man City in this one, and though we think there's a real chance the Swans find a winner, we'll stick with the safe route of taking the hosts with the Asian Handicap.
BPL Odds: Swansea City 1, Manchester City 1
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