Manchester City vs Charlton

Manchester City have generally been a strong outfit on home soil this season and, with Sunday's visitors Charlton woefully out of sorts - despite beating Liverpool in mid-week - Stuart Pearce's charges should enhance their record in this Premiership encounter. City are a shade of odds-on in the match betting - the 10-11 offered by some bookmakers in not that prohibitive in the grand scheme of things - but the bet that catches my eye is for the hosts to win half-time/full-time at 11/5 with Bluesq.The rationale behind this is that City have been ahead at the interval and at the end of the game in three of their last five home matches in the Premiership - and they are quick off the blocks in their matches at present, with Cole and Vassell looking lively. Indeed, that duo are likely to cause many a headache for a Charlton defence which looks far from impregnable at present - they were lucky to concede just three against Tottenham last weekend - and the last time these sides met, at The Valley in December, Man City emerged with a 5-2 victory. The Citizens weren't disgraced when beaten 1-0 away to Everton last Saturday and were most impressive in winning their last two league matches at Maine Road, beating Newcastle 3-0 and Man Utd 3-1 in what was an explosive Derby. At White Hart Lane last Sunday, Charlton looked all at sea. Danny Murphy's defection to Spurs has caused The Addicks to lose much of their industry and impetus in the middle of the park. Admittedly, Charlton ended their dismal run with a 2-0 beating of Liverpool. However, Liverpool simply failed to fire in that match. It is often the case that, when a team tastes defeat following a purple patch, they often perform indifferently for a couple of matches before resume winning ways. This certainly seems to be the case with Liverpool, as they had won 10 straight Premiership matches before being beaten at Stamford Bridge last weekend. in essence, their bubble had burst and Charlton caught them on the back foot.