Man City vs. Bournemouth Betting Tips: Back Rodri in the shots on target market

Manchester City welcome Bournemouth to the Etihad on Saturday afternoon as Pep Guardiola’s side look to return to the top of the table before Arsenal and Spurs feature later in Gameweek 11.

Both of these sides did not feature in midweek Carabao Cup action, with Manchester City still on a high after one of their most complete performances in Premier League history when beating Manchester United 3-0 last weekend. Heading into the latest round of top-flight fixtures, City are two points behind leaders Spurs, but remain the 4/6 favourites to go on and lift another title.

It may have been curtains for Andoni Iraola if he had not managed to collect three points against Burnley last weekend. Things were not looking pretty when The Cherries went behind after 11 minutes, but goals from Semenyo and Billing gave the former Rayo Vallecano boss his first league win as Bournemouth boss, and in doing so guided them out of the relegation zone. 

The return of Rodri to the Manchester City side after his suspension was evident to see last week, in how much he and John Stones controlled the game against United. In my opinion no one player has more of an impact for their side in the league and one area he has improved over the last six months is in front of goal.

Scorer of the solitary goal in the Champions League final which gave his side that elusive European Cup, Rodri has become a regular feature on the scoresheet, managing two league goals this season, along with another in the Champions League group stage. 

When it comes to shots on target, the Spaniard is averaging 1.0 per game in the Premier League and he looks a solid proposition to build on that with another against Bournemouth. The Cherries are missing their first choice goalkeeper for this clash and at 11/10, I’m backing him to clear the Over 0.5 Shots on Target line.

My second play from East Manchester is for Max Aarons to be carded. Last season in the Championship for Norwich, the right-back was shown 10 yellow cards. Since his switch to the South Coast, he has racked up nine fouls in nine league starts along with one booking.

The key angle here is that Aarons will be up against Jack Grealish or Jeremy Doku. The preference goes to the Belgian to start on the left-side of attack for City, and with him being fouled 3.3 times per 90 minutes this season, Aarons could be in for a long afternoon against his speed and trickery.