Sports Blog 10/08/2015: Match Preview – West Brom vs Manchester City, Monday 8th August 2015

After spending the weekend watching everyone else have their turn, West Brom and Manchester City finally get their seasons underway on Monday, at 8pm on Sky Sports 1.

That season-opening Saturday and Sunday wasn’t the most thrilling in memory, but still brought with it a fair amount of drama. The biggest shock of the weekend was Petr Cech, the summer-signing meant to elevate Arsenal to title-contenders, being at fault for both of West Ham’s goals in their victory over the Gunners. Elsewhere, Chelsea couldn’t hold onto two leads as they drew with Swansea, a Walker own-goal gave Man United 3 points over Tottenham and Liverpool put to bed memories of that 6-1 demolition on the last day of last season by beating Stoke 1-0 at the Britannia Stadium.



Anyway, with a mixed set of openers for City’s ostensible title rivals, the Manchester side go into 2015/16 eager to atone for the mistakes of last season. 2014/15 can be classed as an utter disappointment for Man City; they finished 2nd in the league by 8 points (despite winning their last 6 games on the trot), were out in the 4th round of both the FA and League Cup, and fell to Barcelona in the last 16 of the Champions League for the second year in a row.

Frustratingly for City they sit behind Chelsea in pretty much all of Spreadex’s long term markets for 2015/16. They might be joint top Premier League Season Points spread after Chelsea’s draw against Swansea, at 79.5-81, but they are behind their London rivals in the Premier League Index (at 33-36 to Chelsea’s 36-39). City also have the second best fixed odds to win the league at 2/1, the second best binary Premier League winner spread of 28-34 (where the market settles at 100 if a team wins the league and 0 for everyone else) AND sit behind Chelsea on the Trophy Trail Index at 20-24 (where the Champions League is worth 75 points, the League worth 50 and the FA Cup worth 25). Interestingly, the sky blue side of Manchester actually face Chelsea next Sunday, in the first test of their title-chasing mettle.

However, this still leaves City in a far better position than their opponents. West Brom arguably beat relegation due to the New Year appointment of Tony Pulis, who goes in 2015/16 ready, in theory, for his first full season in charge of the Baggies. How long he lasts at the helm remains to be seen, but he might be in for a tough year with West Brom’s Season Points spread of 40.5-42 leaving them within bottom 3 territory, leading the Baggies to a Relegation Index spread of 4-7 alongside Aston Villa, Leicester and Newcastle.



West Brom’s season could hinge on how well Saido Berahino, whose 20 goals (14 in the league) left him as the Baggies top scorer, can repeat last season’s form. He goes into Monday night at a Super Mega PGM spread of 21-25 with 6/1 fixed odds to score first. Joining Berahino, and 11 years his senior, is Rickie Lambert, who should make his Baggies debut at some point this evening after signing from Liverpool for a reported £3 million. Lambert couldn’t make much impact at his boyhood club, only scoring 2 in 25 appearances, but might find it easier to shine at West Brom. He goes into Monday’s match at a Super Mega PGM spread of 13-17 and 9/1 to score first.

For City, an injury free season for Sergio Aguero will be a huge boost for their title hopes. The Argentine was the Premier League’s top scorer with 26 goals, and is not only favourite to score first on Monday, at 14/5 fixed odds with a Super Mega PGM spread of 49-57, but sits atop the season-long top scorer odds at 11/4. However beyond Aguero much of the season’s early focus will be on Raheem Sterling, whose arrival at City saw him break the record fee for an English player. That £49 million price-tag carries with it a lot of pressure, and whilst City may see him as a long term investment he will still be expected to perform pretty quickly this season. He goes into his league debut at a Super Mega PGM of 18-22 and at 13/2 to score first.

Monday should be a relatively easy win for City. And though the weekend was meant to be full of those kinds matches, ones that didn’t necessarily pan out that way, the fact that City managed to score at least twice in their final 9 league last season, has lead Spreadex to offer a Total Goals spread of 2.75-2.95, with a Manchester City/West Brom (h) Goal Supremacy spread of 0.85-1.05.

Make sure to check out Spreadex's Premier League 2015/16 Online Guide!