I often go to sites such as "Bestbetting" to see the odds for us winnng the league.

They show the bets from several bookmakers, and overall, currently, City are at even odds to win whereas we are 2 to 1.

Assuming that these odds are based on many punters who are prepared to risk their money and presumably think they know, then maybe this is the most accurate prediction of what will happen.

But why do people favor City since we beat them?

Is it the run-in games that we face or it something else?

I know Jose doesn't have us winning, but I assume that's part his communication gift to take presure off the players.

If I had to bet today, I would put us dead even with City and Arsenal, and would not put us so far in the odds versus City.

Hmmm.

Probably because we've been grinding out wins quite often and they've been demolishing all-comers (except us).  We've got the easier run-in but I'd say we both have similar chances at the moment.  We drew at home to West Ham because of poor finishing, I can see that frustrating us again but not so with City.  Even against City we should have spanked them, but our finishing let us down.  If that suddenly clicks and we look as rampant as they did we'd immediately be favourites.  Most of our tough games are at home from here on.  Our defence is looking imperious though and City can't say that.

It's because our finishing leaves a lot to be desired, and theirs is top notch (when aguero is in).  Our defense is better than there's by a stretch though.  It's not out of the question to assume we will get some draws because of poor finishing where they would get a win (like West Ham).  That said, I like our chances.  

or could it be that Jose says they are,and what Jose says is good enough for me.....

It's because our finishing leaves a lot to be desired, and theirs is top notch (when aguero is in).  Our defense is better than there's by a stretch though.  It's not out of the question to assume we will get some draws because of poor finishing where they would get a win (like West Ham).  That said, I like our chances.

I can see that when Aguero comes back is important.

Do you think we would have beaten them if he was playing on Monday?

As Jose said, all their key players (Kompany, Toure, Aguero, Silva, Fernandinho, Zabaleta, Negredo, Navas etc.) are in the peak time of their careers.

 

Many of our key players such as Hazard and Oscar are still young and you can already see the massive improvement they have made since last season, while some of them are also perhaps past their primes, such as Lampard/Terry/Ash/Eto'o/Torres and arguably Cech. We're in the process of replacing these players with the likes of Van Ginkel, Zouma, (possibly) Shaw, Lukaku and Courtois.

 

I know the saying "you won't win anything with kids" is scoffed at these days, but over the course of an entire season, the valuable experience the City squad possesses, with the majority of their first team being together for 4 years or so now, definitely makes an impact. You look at the team we played against City, and aside from Terry. Cech and possibly Iva and there aren't many experienced Blues in there, and the chopping and changing managers probably hasn't helped either.

 

As Jose said, he needs this year to give the key players more experience, he's certainly given the more steel and more determination (particularly in defence), plus we're probably a top striker short of being favourites. Matic plugged 1 glaring gap and now we just need to plug the other, and combined with the increasingly impressive Hazard and his support, I think next season we should be joint favourites with City.

 

This season I still think City will win it.

Edited February 5, 201412 yr by Jonty

I often go to sites such as "Bestbetting" to see the odds for us winnng the league.

They show the bets from several bookmakers, and overall, currently, City are at even odds to win whereas we are 2 to 1.

Assuming that these odds are based on many punters who are prepared to risk their money and presumably think they know, then maybe this is the most accurate prediction of what will happen.

But why do people favor City since we beat them?

Is it the run-in games that we face or it something else?

I know Jose doesn't have us winning, but I assume that's part his communication gift to take presure off the players.

If I had to bet today, I would put us dead even with City and Arsenal, and would not put us so far in the odds versus City.

Hmmm.

 

One swallow does not make a summer. Our games against West Ham is more typical of our results than our game against City. City didn't blow us away but they were very uncharacteristically wasteful. 

 

It was an out-of-character performance for both teams.

The lack of top class striker is what made City favorites over us. Scoring goals wins games, and we struggled with our finishing throughout the season. United didn't have the best squad last season, but they had fit Van Persie.

 

Spending a fortune on Torres with FFP on the horizon turned out to be a disaster for the club. Eto'o actually did quite well, scored some important goals (MU, Pool, etc), but he's nowhere near the striker he was in his prime. Ba is a limited player.

 

I believe Jose's insistence, that we're not the favorites for the title is based on the fact that we don't have a goalscorer in our ranks.

We are just the little horse as Jose says.If favourites won all the time i wouldnt have lost so much money betting.One game at a time.

Because they consistently score a lot of goals against all comers barring the odd exception.

city are favourites because we are one of the few teams in the league that can beat them, and we have now played them twice and are level with them.

Arsenal will be to naive and wont beat them. Liverpool lack the quality to beat them. United wont beat them under Moyes. we can only hope for city to not play at their best one day for them to drop points. we still have the odd poor performance in us, and lack of cutting edge in front of goal. i would make us 2nd favourites though

Because when City aren't playing CFC they typically bang in 3+ goals, where we can sometimes struggle to beat the likes of West Ham at home.

We'll be going hard and fast from now on though..

Because they're northern.

Presumably because they have the best team and squad in the league. Their goalscoring ability is outstanding, plus we beat them twice in the league this season and still are only level on points with them.

Best first eleven in the league,teams in its peak in terms of age and have the best strike force in the league.Still think we will win the league though.

The sheer quality and depth in their squad is the simple reason. Our strikeforce is simply not good enough in comparison. We won them and were brilliant but I'd still consider them to be the favourites.

I'd prefer to expect 2-3rd and hope for 1st than to build us up and see us "fail" and not win. I'm more than happy with the way the team is developing, on this trajectory I can see us being successful for the next 10 years so I can be patient for a year. ;) let city be favorites this year, it'll be nice to be able to prove critics wrong.

I'm not sure if it works like this, Star would be better at answering but I'd imagine the bookmakers take account of all the bets up to this point and what they would have to pay out, City have likely had some big money on them over the course of the season due to the knee jerk reaction of punters impressed by big wins against decent opposition and the bookmakers can't afford to let City's odd lengthen because so much is already at stake for them if City were to win it.

 

Arsenal are still better odds than us with a two point advantage and I'm of the opinion these odds are there as a tasty treat with the Bookies being of the opinion that City or ourselves will likely win it so the more money that comes in on attractively priced bets on Arsenal, the less it costs them when they pay out on one of the other two.

 

That would be my reasoning if I was a bookmaker.

http://fraser1994.wordpress.com/2014/02/05/brilliant-chelsea-take-three-points-at-the-easyhad/

I often go to sites such as "Bestbetting" to see the odds for us winnng the league.

They show the bets from several bookmakers, and overall, currently, City are at even odds to win whereas we are 2 to 1.

Assuming that these odds are based on many punters who are prepared to risk their money and presumably think they know, then maybe this is the most accurate prediction of what will happen.

But why do people favor City since we beat them?

Is it the run-in games that we face or it something else?

I know Jose doesn't have us winning, but I assume that's part his communication gift to take presure off the players.

If I had to bet today, I would put us dead even with City and Arsenal, and would not put us so far in the odds versus City.

Hmmm.

I have absolutely no idea. The teams they have demolished haven't really been great sides, have they? They struggled against Crystal Palace at home, lost against Sunderland and Liverpool made them look ordinary when they went the Etihad. Were it not for that bizarre offside decision and that complete whopper from their goalie, Liverpool probably could have either won or drawn that match easily. We took the p**s out of them for most of the game the other night when we beat them 1-0 too. In my opinion, City can be easily beaten, their defense is shakier than a straw house.

 

But let's face it, City have been the favourites to win it since before a ball was even kicked this season. It's cos of the sheer riches they have at their disposal and the ridiculous vastness of their squad depth. However, I think it's ridiculous that everyone is practically handing them the trophy, when it's games like the one we just played that indicate that they are anything BUT nailed on. Sick of everyone bowing to them to be honest, I think we're a better side. Grinding out the wins and quietly racking up points like we have been is what champions do, United did it for years, they beat City to the title doing just that last season.

 

I also find it funny that City are favourites all the time despite the fact they have been top exactly twice, for five minutes, all season.

 

 

I also find it funny that City are favourites all the time despite the fact they have been top exactly twice, for five minutes, all season.

This made me laugh!  It's also a reflection on Arsenal.

For now City are favourites as they do have a depth of top class players in their prime. However a lot can change over the next 6 games, in regards to who is most likely to win the title. Arsenal have some games against the top sides in there, we have a few trick sides to face like WBA away and Everton at home. City have 6 gimmes they should walk.

 

Could be they are 5, 6 or more clear after those games and are rightly favourites. However if ourselves and-or the Arsenal are close to, level with or above them after those 6 games then I would say one of-both of us would be more of a favourite for the title.

Edited February 6, 201412 yr by axman2526

No one was taking Arsenal seriously as title challengers, rightly so cos they usually collapse by January. But the fact is, they have sat top of the league for the majority of the season. We have to start taking them seriously now. It's mad that everyone considers it a two horse race between Chelsea and City and no one has really considered the team that have been top for most of the campaign.

No one was taking Arsenal seriously as title challengers, rightly so cos they usually collapse by January. But the fact is, they have sat top of the league for the majority of the season. We have to start taking them seriously now. It's mad that everyone considers it a two horse race between Chelsea and City and no one has really considered the team that have been top for most of the campaign.

Mainly because arsenals squad isn't big enough to deal with all the upcoming fixtures. We'll see how good they are after Saturday.

No one was taking Arsenal seriously as title challengers, rightly so cos they usually collapse by January. But the fact is, they have sat top of the league for the majority of the season. We have to start taking them seriously now. It's mad that everyone considers it a two horse race between Chelsea and City and no one has really considered the team that have been top for most of the campaign.

 

Have you seen the fixtures they have coming up? im pretty confident with the injuries they have they will dropping alot of points.