MANCHESTER CITY coasted to victory against a side sliding towards the drop at the weekend and it should be a similar story when Cardiff come calling.
Pep Guardiola's men hardly had to get out of first gear against Fulham, wrapping the game up inside 30 minutes thanks to goals from Bernardo Silva and Sergio Aguero.
They took their foot off the gas after the break, much to my dismay as I had tipped them to win by a three-goal margin, as City probably had an eye on their midweek match.
The only disappointment for Guardiola on Saturday was the injury to top scorer Aguero that could leave the Argentinian facing a spell on the sidelines.
But Gabriel Jesus is a more than able deputy and the Brazilian will relish having a go at the Bluebirds. He netted twice for Brazil during the international break and will want to show Guardiola that he deserves to be the main man up front.
Jesus is a best 6/10 with Blacktype in the anytime scorer market so you need to be a bit bolder to find any value. He's 11/4 with Betway to open the scoring and that looks tempting while Ladbrokes offer 13/5 on the Brazilian scoring two or more.
An FA Cup semi-final with Brighton looms on the horizon this weekend so Guardiola could shuffle his pack for this one, although the Premier League remains his priority. That could see Phil Foden getting a chance and the youngster is 23/10 with Unibet in the anytime scorer market.
I thought Cardiff would be easily beaten by Chelsea on Sunday but they should have claimed a huge win in their battle against the drop and only some terrible refereeing decisions saw them lose 2-1 at the death.
But City are a big step up in class from a struggling Chelsea side and have already hammered the Bluebirds 5-0 in Wales.
This could be equally painful for Neil Warnock's side who are 80/1 rank outsiders with Paddy Power, the longest odds they have ever offered for a team in the Premier League.
But perhaps that's spot on after Warnock joked about “keeping it down to single figures” and tried to provoke Liverpool fans by suggesting he might “play the reserves”.
City are 1/12 with most firms as they seek the win that will return them to the top of the table so you have to get a bit creative to find any kind of value. Doubling it with a clean sheet improves the odds to 3/5 with 888 Sport but that still a bit too skinny for my liking.
Even City to score four goals or more is odds-on at 4/5 with Coral so you have to look for a correct score to make a decent profit. It should be a case of how many for Guardiola's side and I like the look of 3-0 which is 69/10 with Marathonbet.
It's going to be backs to the wall for Cardiff so it could pay to back a few of their players for a card. Aaron Gunnarsson, booked against Chelsea, is 4/1 with Unibet to land another card here.
This English Premier League match between Manchester City and Cardiff City will be played on Apr 3, 2019 and kick off at 19:45. Check below for our tipsters best Manchester City vs Cardiff City prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
