Man City Wobble

Big-spending Manchester City were the main losers in the race for the title after the latest round of Premiership matches. Neighbours United, Arsenal and Chelsea all won while Mancini’s men could only muster a 2-2 draw at Birmingham City, having led twice. This disappointment followed on from an unconvincing draw with Notts County and a defeat to Aston Villa. When you’ve spent a few hundred million on new recruits this really isn’t good enough and the bookies have concluded that the title won’t be heading to Eastlands this year. Having briefly led the pack a few weeks ago City are now a whopping 28/1 to win the title with Bet365.

Perhaps the more pertinent question now is whether Man City can still secure a precious top four berth this season and gain that vital Champions’ League spot. The bookies are considerably more upbeat about those prospects. The Blues fair no worse in the ‘Top 4’ market than a 2/7 shot with PaddyPower. Admittedly, the situation on the surface still looks favourable with Man City still above Chelsea in third, albeit having played a game more.

The only team who realistically seem capable of scuppering City’s Champions League hopes is Spurs - we’ve been here before haven’t we? Last season the battle for fourth spot went right to the wire before Tottenham nabbed the glory largely thanks to an end of season showdown victory at Eastlands. This time Redknapp’s boys are very much playing catch-up having been somewhat distracted by their hard-earned Champions League’s progress.

StanJames have Spurs at a best price of 2/1 - not bad for a side only 5 points off third with a game in hand. They’re still underdogs to repeat last year’s finish but a 1-0 win at Blackburn on Wednesday night closed the gap on City and kept the pressure right up.