Manchester City v Southampton Tips: Two selections from the shots on target market

There’s just one midweek fixture in the Premier League this week as Manchester City host Southampton at the Etihad on Wednesday evening. Despite their 15 game winning streak coming to an abrupt end against Manchester United on Sunday, Pep Guardiola’s side are still 11 points clear at the top of the Premier League.

The Saints make the trip to Manchester this week for the first time since their 9-0 mauling by Manchester United last month. Ralph Hassenhuttl’s team overcame Sheffield United 2-0 at Bramall on Saturday to end their nine game winless run. Our man @AnthonyEadson is on hand with three football tips for the game which kicks off at 6pm and can be seen live on Sky Sports Main Event.

One of the biggest certainties for Wednesday is that Pep Guardiola will make changes to his side with Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, Aymeric Laporte and Kyle Walker all set to return to the starting XI. City are priced at just 2/11 with most firms to collect all three points from the game.

Danny Ings is not expected to play again this month after coming off against Sheffield United where the striker picked up a muscle injury. Southampton are priced at 15/1 for the win on Wednesday and Nathan Tella should keep his place in attack alongside Che Adams. Oriol Romeu, Theo Walcott, Michael Obafemi and William Smallbone all remain sidelined.

Nathan Tella 1+ shot on target - 2pts @ 5/2 Paddy Power
Bernardo Silva 2+ shots on target - 1pt @ 11/2 Paddy Power
Tella 1+ shot on target & Silva 2+ shots on target - 0.5pts @ 27/1 Paddy Power

Nathan Tella started only his second ever Premier League game against Sheffield United at the weekend and I’m backing the 21-year-old to have a shot on target against Manchester City at the price of 5/2 with Paddy Power.

Tella, who spent ten years at Arsenal of his youth career at Arsenal has registered at least a shot on target in both of his league starts. On Saturday he was looking to shoot at every opportunity and got off five attempts in total with two of those hitting the target.

It’s been a tough start to the year for the Saints, but in recent weeks Tella has looked particularly bright and although I don’t see the visitors having lots of clear cut chances I do think we will see some attempts from Tella. City have conceded in their last three league matches and Southampton can get on the scoresheet should they show some of their form from earlier on in the campaign. With all things considered I can’t help but feel Tella looks a tad overpriced here with Paddy Power at 5/2 for a shot on target, with this same selection priced at just 10/11 with Skybet.
 

Bernardo Silva did not start Sunday’s Manchester derby and I’m expecting him to be back in from the start on Wednesday. I’m leaning towards the Portuguese playmaker having two or more shots on target in the game, which is available at 11/2, again with both Betfair and Paddy Power.

The 26-year-old has registered six shots on target in his last five games for City, with three of those coming against Everton where he grabbed himself a goal and an assist. Over the course of this season we have seen players such as Ilkay Gundogan and Ferran Torres shorten considerably in the shots markets with Betfair and Paddy Power and I feel Bernardo is one of the more ‘unexposed’ players in this market. City have the ability to rack up large shot counts and at 11/2, I’m having a small play on Bernardo to have two against Southampton.

For the optimists out there the double pays 27/1. Best of those luck to those following the selections and as always, please gamble responsibly.