Man City and Chelsea to be level pegging at half

Neither of these sides have gone into the half-time break behind since the Premier League’s return

BetVictor go 23/20 about Manchester City and Chelsea being level at half-time in the early-season clash of the Premier League title favourites, and there are a few compelling reasons why this is among the bets of the weekend.

Neither City nor Chelsea have been behind after the first 45 minutes of any of their five all-competition fixtures apiece since the world’s toughest top flight kicked off the 2014/15 season.

Manuel Pellegrini’s side claimed pre-pie victories over Newcastle, Liverpool and Arsenal, with the first halves against Bayern Munich and Stoke ending goalless.

Meanwhile, Jose Mourinho’s men bested Burnley, Everton and Schalke before the oranges went round the dressing room, while Premier League clashes with Leicester and Swansea saw 0-0 and 1-1 scorelines at the break.

That makes it 3-0 to Man City on first-half scores so far, and 7-3 to Chelsea. It’s that tight between the pair, which is reflected in the best prices of 2/1 and 13/5 respectively with BetVictor about the sides going in ahead.

Here’s the kicker. While Mourinho’s men were up by the narrowest possible margin at half-time in each of their Premier League meetings last season, the previous eight such fixtures would have seen BetVictor’s 13/10 odds land.

Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

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