Man City can deal with fixture congestion against Southampton
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Much is made of the apparent continental hangover teams face after playing in Europe, but Manchester City have proved this is just a cliche.
In their 11 outings following Champions League matches this term, the Citizens have emerged victorious on six occasions.
Furthermore, in the four games after their knockout matches, they have won three times, only losing in the Manchester derby.
Even more promisingly for Manuel Pellegrini is the fact that two of these triumphs were some of his sides’ most encouraging ones.
For example, their Capital One Cup final success came after the Etihad outfit had beaten Dynamo Kiev 3-1 in Europe.
Similarly, the resounding 3-0 demolition of Chelsea immediately followed the 1-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain that saw Man City book their place in the Champions League semi-final.
The Saints themselves have felt the sting of facing Pellegrini’s men after they’ve had an excursion in Europe.
Ronald Koeman took his team to the Etihad after the Mancunians had lost 1-0 to Juventus and left the north west with a 3-1 defeat.
The Citizens have kept a clean sheet in four of their last five matches and have clearly found some real defensive steel.
In contrast, Southampton haven’t been able to keep their opposition at bay in any of their last nine games.
Furthermore, they have conceded 15 goals in this run and are the exact opposite of the stability established by Man City.
Therefore, the wisest bet would be to back City to win to nil at 15/4.
When looking at how will do the damage for the Champions League semi-finalists, it’s hard to look beyond Sergio Aguero.
The forward has opened the scored in three of the Citizens’ last four league outings and can be backed to do so again at 7/2.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
