Toure De Force

Manchester City may be done where their title defence is concerned but they will be desperate to extend their proud recent record against their arch-rivals.

The champions have won six of the last seven league derbies and their last three visits to Old Trafford. I don’t know if they can turnaround the form enough to continue that trend but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Yaya Toure score at a best price of 7/2 with Coral.

In all the negative headlines which surrounded City’s defeat at Selhurst Park on Monday, it would be easy to overlook that the Ivorian scored a howitzer.

Toure has a habit of going on a goalscoring run just as he did between November and New Year’s Day when he bagged six league goals in eight outings. It was a similar story last season when the former Barcelona man enjoyed three spells of sharp shooting on his way to 24 goals in all competitions.

This term has been less prolific but expect a strong finish to the campaign, even if it’s to help engineer a move away from the Etihad. Only Aguero and Austin average more shots per game in the top flight than Yaya (3.3) and he may be about to start another hot streak.