Man City v Sporting Lisbon: no escape for Sporting second time round
Published:It’s not been the best of weeks for Manchester City, but fear not, Sporting Lisbon do not fare well on their travels and Roberto Mancini’s men will be back to their ruthless best as they brush aside the Portuguese outfit at 2/7.
If their away record is anything to go by, Sporting will be a shadow of the side that gave City a scare in Portugal a week ago.
They have only won one of their previous 11 away matches in domestic football, and worryingly, have scored in just five of them.
It’s not however all doom and gloom for the visitors, who have won five of their previous seven in all competitions and enjoyed a comprehensive 5-0 win over sixth-placed Vitoria Guimaraes at the Estadio Jose Alvalade on Sunday.
Though Mancini’s men boast a 100 per cent home record in the Premier League, they have twice been beaten at Eastlands in domestic cup competitions.
But with defeats in Portugal and Swansea still fresh in the memory, you have to go back to November 2010 to find the last time they lost three consecutive matches.
The visitors are 17/2 to condemn Man City to a surprise European exit with an away win.
A Sporting away goal would of course have City on the ropes, but the hosts don’t concede too many at Eastlands.
In fact, Joe Hart has now kept four successive clean sheets at home and a total of 11 at the Etihad in all competitions this season. City can be backed at 10/11 to win to nil.
Elsewhere, Man City score goals for fun at home and have netted 15 in their last five at Eastlands. They hit four at home to Porto in the previous round and are 3/1 to repeat the feat.
As for the half-time markets, the hosts have won both halves in each of their last four outings at Eastlands. It’s 5/4 they come out on top either side of the half-time whistle.
