Man City vs Salford Prediction 11 January 2025

🔊 How many goals will the "Citizens" score against the representative of the Second League? On January 11th, Pep Guardiola's team will have a great opportunity to extend their winning streak. Manchester City will host Salford City at the "Etihad" as part of the 3rd round of the FA Cup. Whatever problems the "Sky Blues" might be facing, they are expected to overcome such an opponent without much effort. At least that's what the bookmakers think, as the odds for a home win barely exceed one. We will try to find intrigues in the upcoming match, based on which we will make a quality prediction.

📊 Head-to-Head

The upcoming match will be the first in the history of the teams' encounters.

⚪ Manchester City

It seems that the incredibly long losing streak of the "Citizens" is behind them. The team ended 2024 on a high note by defeating Leicester (2:0) and started 2025 successfully by thrashing West Ham 4:1. Thus, Pep's protégés achieved two consecutive victories for the first time since October. Haaland has finally started scoring, but Savinho deserves special mention, with 1+3 in his last couple of matches. The Brazilian is literally tearing up the left flank. However, in the FA Cup, he, along with many other leaders, will likely get some rest. Such an opponent as Salford should be handled by the "Sky Blues" even with a reserve squad. Let's recall that in the previous two editions of the tournament, City reached the final, where they first defeated United in the Manchester derby (2:1) and then lost to them by the same score.

🔴 Salford City

While in terms of individual skill, the visitors cannot compete with Man City, they are certainly on par in terms of current form. In fact, their recent successes overshadow the results of the "Citizens." Salford not only won their last 6 matches but did so without conceding a goal, with an overall score of 12:0. Thanks to an incredible winning streak, Carl Robinson's team has risen to the top 3 of the Second League standings and is seriously contending for promotion to the third tier for the first time in modern history. As for the League Cup, the "Ammies" have also performed well - they've already passed two rounds by defeating Shrewsbury Town (2:1) and Cheltenham (2:0).

⚽️ Prediction on Goals

Perhaps the outcome and goal-scoring potential of the upcoming match do not raise much doubt. Erling Haaland needs to regain his scoring confidence, so he is likely to appear on the field. Against such an opponent, the "Viking" could individually score three or four goals, as we know how he loves matches against underdogs. Even without considering the Norwegian, the hosts should score more than one goal. Total over 3.5 goals from Man City looks promising.

🚩 Prediction on Corners

We believe that the "Citizens" will score more often than they will take corners. It's unlikely they will need to resort to besieging the underdog's goal. Therefore, we suggest betting on Manchester City's individual total under 8.5 corners. This bet has won in 9 consecutive matches.

📝 Match Prediction

Salford has been extremely successful in recent matches, but it's one thing to beat Second League opponents and quite another to challenge the champion of England. Of course, Man City is still far from their optimal form, and Guardiola will likely take this opportunity to give his leaders a well-deserved rest, but this is unlikely to save the underdog from a rout. We believe that thanks to the efforts of the "Citizens," it will be a high-scoring match and end with a score of 4:0. From this follows our main bet option - Manchester City to win with a handicap (-2.5).