Very surprised to see this from SKY 2nd favourites for the title.
- Man City (6/1)
I've not yet had a bet on the outright market this season and from a value perspective, I'd much rather back City at 6/1 than United at 4/6. The Manchester derby on February 12th is going to be tasty.
At the start of the season I gave Man City little chance of winning the title as I couldn't see how Roberto Mancini could mould a team out of this group of individuals. However, I've been impressed with what I've seen of late on the field and off it and Mancini's no-nonsense "follow me or else" approach seems to be working. Mind you, he still has his hands full with Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli, and Tuesday's training ground scrap shows the tensions in the squad. However, Mancini will get rid of a lot of 'baggage' in the January transfer window and in December they really started to look like a team.
City defended brilliantly again at the Emirates on Wednesday night, with Kompany and De Jong leading from the back. The way Mancini sets up the team means they are always going to thrive on the road and I'm confident they will have the best points return in the top five away from home during the second half of the season, which could be crucial.
At Eastlands it isn't so straightforward but prior to Wednesday they were starting to score goals (18 in 8) and there have been encouraging signs with Yaya Toure being given much more freedom to play in midfield and the magical David Silva improving all the time and capable of unlocking any Premier League defense. Silva's creativity was sorely missed at Arsenal and let's hope his knee injury clears up quickly.
I took some stick on Twitter for naming Silva as my player of the season so far but if there's a better link man between midfield and attack in the league, I certainly haven't seen him. He was slow to get started but once Silva adjusted to the speed of the Premier League, he's been outstanding. Carlos Tevez is always going to be a threat and the addition of Edin Dzeko gives Mancini a new dimension. Dzeko looks like a combination of Dimitar Berbatov and Alen Boksic to me. Don't rule out other signings as well.
Overall, I think Man City are big runners to win the title and look by far the best value of the title contenders at 6/1 with Sky Bet.
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