Man City’s attacking muscle to over-power Liverpool backline

This campaign represents the first since the late 1930’s that Manchester City scored six goals or more in a single game on three separate occasions and, even more impressively, they’ve achieved it before Christmas.

Liverpool’s trembling defence is the next to be fed into the Etihad opposition mincer, with Man City’s odds to stretch their flawless winning streak at home to nine at 8/11. The Reds are available at 10/3 and the draw – the outcome in each of the previous three meetings between these two – is a 3/1 offering.

The final score in these three aforementioned stalemates was 2-2, a repeat of which can be backed at 11/1, but potential punters would be best advised to swerve this price simply because faith cannot be placed in City to limit their goal tally to just two. The likelihood is that their total will be somewhere closer to five goals when proceedings are halted.

There will most certainly be takers of the 9/2 on offer for Manuel Pellegrini’s men to fire four-plus goals here, given their tendency to obliterate their foes in the upper echelons at home.

Everton – 3-1 losers on their trip to the blue half of Manchester – are the only visitor from last term’s top six not to concede at least four times, with Manchester United shipping four and north London duo Arsenal and Tottenham both being hit for six.

City’s 4-2 win over Fulham last time out was their eighth in nine outings and for each of these victories they scored more than two goals. Their 11 wins from 12 in all competitions would have seen those who backed them to win with a one-goal handicap applied to their goal haul rewarded and, for this very reason, their 17/10 price to do the same again must appeal.

Further support in favour of this punt is presented through Liverpool’s leaking away defence, who have conceded at least two goals in each of the four away games that pre-dated their 5-0 demolition of Spurs at White Hart Lane.

This clean sheet was definitely aided by some lacklustre Spurs attacking and the fact that the hosts were down to 10 men for the bulk of the second period. Similar assistance is unlikely to be thrust in their direction here, meaning the City one-goal handicap bet is the basket in which you should be placing all of your Boxing Day eggs.

All odds and markets accurate as of publication’s time and date

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