We’re now into December and Pep Guardiola knows that even his Manchester City team have to grind out victories during a busy month of fixtures in the world of English soccer.

Sergio Aguero clearly needs to be used sparingly and was nowhere to be seen for Saturday’s win against Bournemouth, while City didn’t sparkle as much as they have previously done this season. Guardiola commented:

“We were flat at times but that’s normal when you play a lot of matches. I’m still delighted with the win, because one or two big teams will drop points this weekend. Maybe we weren’t good for the whole 90 minutes but we did enough in 75 to win the game.”

The games continue to come thick and fast, with the English champions heading to Vicarage Road on Tuesday night and BetVictor make them overwhelming favourites at 3/10 to land the three points.

City Unlikely to Concede

City have won four of their six away matches in the Premier League, having claimed the scalps of Arsenal, Cardiff, Tottenham and West Ham. All of these victories have a common theme, namely that the Citizens have won without conceding and we’re expecting that to continue against Watford.

While this bet always carries a slight risk considering that a goal can be scored from a deflected effort or even a late consolation when the game has been won, it is clear that Manchester City are running a very tight ship that owes plenty to a newly-formed central defensive partnership.

John Stones was rested for the Bournemouth game and should rejoin Aymeric Laporte, with BetVictor going 7/5 that the visitors win this game without reply against a Watford side who started the season very strongly although they’re finding points a lot harder to come by.

Home Victory Nicely Priced But Unlikely

The Hornets sit tenth in the Premier League table and twenty points is a healthy enough return from fourteen matches, even if twelve of them came from the opening four matches of the campaign.

Just one point has been taken from the past four encounters and bet365 are happy to lay double figures about a home victory in front of the BT Sport cameras on Tuesday night, chalking up 10/1 which might get even bigger before kick-off.

There’s little basis to bet against a City team who were only beaten twice in the top flight last season and the draw price is 5/1 but Watford will really need to be at their best to lay a glove on this outstanding team.

Leroy Sane or Sterling to Open?

Guardiola reserved special praise for Leroy Sane after the previous encounter against Bournemouth and the German is starting to bring consistency to his performances, with Paddy Power offering 6/1 that he opens the scoring.

It could be a race for the first goal with Raheem Sterling and the England forward is having the time of his life at the moment, with Betfair having odds of 5/1 that we see the PFA Young Player of the Year favourite bag the opener and get his team up and running here.