FA Cup semi-finals
Man City's last visit to Wembley was in 1999 when football spread betting fans will remember Paul Dickov's dramatic late strike that gave the Blues a 2-2 draw against Gillingham in the League One play-off final. They went on to win the penalty shootout and City supporters would settle for a similar scenario in their side's FA Cup semi-final against fierce rivals Man United this weekend, before hoping to end their 35-year wait for a major trophy next month.
United are still in the hunt for the treble and followers of the Red Devils on the spreads will be hoping that they continue their recent strong form again City. They have won five and drawn one of the past six league meetings between the sides and they also knocked City out of the Carling Cup last season.
There will be plenty of interest in the total goals spread markets, especially with Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez both likely to be missing. Total goals buyers will be hoping for a repeat of last season's exciting 4-3 United victory at Old Trafford, while sellers will point to this season's cagey goalless draw at Eastlands. Spread sellers of the time of the first match goal might be slightly concerned that in last year's two Wembley semi-finals (Aston Villa v Chelsea and Portsmouth v Tottenham), the first goal in the first semi was scored in the 68th minute and Pompey eventually beat Spurs in extra-time following a goalless 90 minutes.
Some spread bettors might be expecting an aggressive game, but recent contests between the rivals have been relatively tame when it comes to bookings points. In the last seven meetings across all competitions the highest number of cards handed out in one game was four and there has been an average of just 30 points.
The other FA Cup semi-final isn't quite as glamorous as the Manchester Derby, but Bolton and Stoke will be fired up to try to book their return ticket to Wembley next month. These sides have had a solid enough season and spread bettors will find it difficult to separate them based on recent head-to-heads. Since Stoke arrived in the Premier League three years ago, they have won two, drawn one and lost three of the six meetings against the Trotters.
Spread goal buyers will be encouraged that those six meetings all produced two or more goals and that is actually true in the last 12 between the two sides going back to the early Nineties. The Potters have been involved in some high scoring games recently, with four of their last five producing a minimum of three goals. Owen Coyle's Bolton have also seen plenty of goals of late and sellers of goals on the spreads will be concerned that their last five games have averaged 3.4 per game.
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