There is a football equivalent of the old saying that a bird in hand is worth two in the bush. It goes something like this: points in hand are always better than matches in hand. Manchester City will find out the veracity of the saying in a few weeks’ time. They are playing one of their much publicized two games in hand tomorrow against Sunderland.

Sunderland have been the worst performers in the premier league. They are at the bottom the league. Still, the team has a good recent H2H record against Manchester City. The results of last nine matches go like this: four wins, a draw and four defeats. But all their wins against City have come in the home fixtures. The thrilling 3-3 draw a couple of seasons ago is their only positive result they managed in recent times at the Etihad Stadium.

What will favour Sunderland is the mindset of the City players. The Citizens are coming into the match after a high-voltage, energy-sapping, and morale-busting loss against Liverpool. The big question is whether they can recover from the effects of that difficult match. They will be thanking their stars that they have only Sunderland to contend with at this juncture.

Manchester City have to regroup to keep the fires of the title pursuit burning. A big win against Sunderland would help.

Yaya Touré limped out of the Liverpool match. But Sergio Agüero made a comeback in that match, albeit without any impact. David Silva and James Milner were sensational in the second half at Anfield. If they play half as good, it could be quite handful for Sunderland.

Manchester City-Sunderland Prediction

Sunderland lost all their last five matches. This is likely to be the sixth one.

City to win 1.14 @ Bet365

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