Pile money on Man City and Liverpool to share spoils

The first major game of the new Premier League season sees Manchester City and Liverpool lock horns at the Etihad on Monday night (8pm KO, Live on Sky Sports 1), and a draw looks the best bet from a punting perspective at 5/2 with Coral.

City go into the game as 5/6 favourites, and have not lost to the Reds at home in the league since the 2008/09 season.

However, the last four league encounters have been close fought affairs and resulted in two draws and a win apiece for each side.

Liverpool also picked up more points on the road last season than any other side and managed to avoid defeat in 79 per cent of their games.

That suggests that Brendan Rodgers’ men will be tough nuts to crack, and makes a draw look the logical punt.

The other bet that stands out looks a sore thumb is over 2.5 goals at 6/10 with Coral.

An astonishing 14 of City’s 19 home matches last term went over that total, while 16 of Liverpool’s 19 away fixtures followed the same trend.

Throw in the fact that last four meetings in the league between the pair have also resulted in more than 2.5 on each occasion, and you can see why it looks such a rock solid wager.

There are plenty of angles in the anytime goalscorer market, which is not surprisingly headed by City’s Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero.

Dzeko has scored five goals in his last five league appearances and is chalked up at 5/4, whilst Aguero has the best mins-per-goal rate in Premier League history and can be backed at even-money.

Both players are sure to prove popular with punters, but for me the value has to be Steven Gerrard at the 5/1 on offer with Coral.

The Liverpool skipper who netted 13 times last term, will be on penalty duty for this game.

That makes him look overpriced, especially as Liverpool were awarded more penalties away from home in the league last season than any other team (nine) and this promises to be a real hard-fought and fiery affair.