FA Cup Final
There's still plenty to play for in the Premier League, but this weekend Manchester City have a chance to win their first piece of silverware for 35 years. Spread punters that bought Manchester City's FA Cup outright index (100pts for winner, 70 pts for runner-up) at the start of the season will be absolutely delighted with the side's run to the final. Roberto Mancini's side are now available at 92.
Since the opening of the new Wembley there have been four finals and only five goals scored within 90 minutes, which will be of interest to punters looking for a spread bet on the total goals market. The match supremacy market will also spark debate amongst spread bettors given that the past three finals have all been settled by a single goal margin.
It's not too difficult to see why City are the big spread favourites for the cup final, but Stoke and their spread supporters will be desperate to cause an upset. Spread punters might have seen that Stoke got a late equaliser to take a point from Mancini's side when they met at the Britannia last November. Those that are keen to buy Stoke's win index will be happy to find that the side have not lost to City in the past three matches. During that period there have been two draws and a victory, which was a 3-1 win in last season's FA Cup replay.
Man City's spread supporters will be concerned that the side lost 2-1 last weekend against Everton and that their opponents don't have a midweek game. Tony Pulis' outfit have not lost in five matches and comfortably beat Arsenal 3-1 last time out.
Total goal spread buyers will be interested to hear that the Potters have scored ten times in their past three FA Cup fixtures. Anyone looking to sell total goals for the final should be aware that Stoke scored five on their last visit to Wembley. The total goal minutes in Stoke's victory over Bolton reached 207 points. However, spread enthusiasts looking to sell total goals would point to City's 1-0 semi-final win where the total was just 52 points. The average goal minute total in FA Cup finals since 2007 is 34.
Spread bettors looking at the bookings index may recall that Paul Scholes was sent off in City's semi-final and that the market accumulated 65 points. On the other hand sellers of the bookings spread would argue that there has not been a red card in the past four finals. The average bookings total for those contests stands at 45 points, the highest total in that time was 70 which came in 2007 when Man Utd and Chelsea met. For the interest of any spread bettors weighing up having a punt on the time of the first match goal, the 2008 final between Chelsea and Everton featured a goal in the first minute, while the 2007 contest was goalless and needed extra-time to hand Chelsea the cup.
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