Premier League on Betfair: City fight on and vital win for Newcastle

25Feb 2013

England - Premier League

Mike Norman details today's In-Play odds matched in the Premier League including some big prices in the game at St James Park...

Manchester City have cut the gap at the top of the table to 12 points after beating Chelsea 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium this afternoon.

City started the day 15 points adrift following Manchester United's 2-0 victory over QPR on Saturday, but their fading title hopes were kept alive thanks to a Joe Hart penalty save and goals from Yaya Toure and Carlos Tevez.

Roberto Mancini's men just about had the better of the first half but neither side could find the breakthrough and the teams went in at the interval 0-0 - a scoreline matched at 3.7 in the Half Time Score market.

The game burst in to life in the second half when Demba Ba rounded Hart only for the England goalkeeper to bring the Blues striker down. Frank Lampard stepped up to take the spot kick but saw his well-struck shot brilliantly saved by Hart. A Penalty Taken was matched at 4.4.

Chelsea were made to pay for their penalty miss with just over 25 minutes to go when Toure superbly slotted home into the far corner from just inside the area. Tevez wrapped up the points with another excellent strike with just minutes remaining.

City hit a high of 2.66 to win the game, with the 2-0 Correct Score being matched at 13.5. Toure was backed at 14.5 to open the scoring.

Manchester United remain strong favourites to lift the Premier League title, available to back at just 1.05, with City considered as big outsiders now at 21.0.

There were some big odds matched in today's other Premier League fixture as Newcastle came from a goal down to beat Southampton 4-2 at St James Park.

Morgan Schneiderlin was matched at 42.0 in the First Goalscorer market before putting the Saints in front, but goals from Moussa Sissoko, Papiss Cisse, Yohan Cabaye and a Jos Hooiveld own goal gave Alan Pardew's men a bit of breathing space at the bottom of the table. Rickie Lambert got Southampton's second goal.

Newcastle were matched at a high of 5.4 In-Play to win the game, while the 4-2 Correct Score was matched at 110.0, and Over 5.5 Goals at 24.0.

In the Relegation market Newcastle are available to back at 24.0 following today's win while Southampton can be backed at 5.1 for the drop.

QPR (1.18), Reading (1.34), and Aston Villa (1.84) are the three clubs considered most likely to go down with less than a third of the season remaining.