Eddie Howe's men host Man City in Saturday's Premier League encounter
Former Man City and Arsenal striker Paul Dickov
Former Man City and Arsenal striker Paul Dickov(Image: Amazon Prime Video Sport)
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Despite all the megastars and footballing legends who have starred for Manchester City in the past decade, the name of Paul Dickov remains a hugely important one to the club.
After all, it was the former Arsenal striker who scored that dramatic injury-time goal which helped City beat Gillingham in the 1999 Second Division play-off final, which in turn set the club back on the path to the top-flight and the eventual takeover by Sheikh Mansour in 2008.
Dickov will be watching closely as his old side take on Newcastle United this weekend, and it's Eddie Howe's side he has been focusing on ahead of the big Premier League clash.
The 53-year-old has been impressed with what he has seen at St james' Park as Pep Guardiola and Co prepare for Saturday's evening kick-off, but fears their away form is hampering any hopes of challenging at the top end of the Premier League table.
"I think the quality and the team is there, but at the minute it’s just not happening for whatever reason," he told Best Betting Bonuses.
"The performances in the Champions League at St James' Park are phenomenal. But then I look at them in the league games, especially away from home.
"The reality is that defeats away from home are costing them. I saw them at Brentford. They’re taking the lead and then you're looking for them to kick on a little bit, and then they just look a little bit flat and they collapse.
"We've seen this before with teams that are competing in Europe with the big occasion. They find it really difficult to then go and perform the following weekend in the Premier League, which is your bread and butter.
"I've seen Eddie Howe's interview after the game at the weekend and you can tell he wasn't happy at all. But he's a top manager and I'm sure he'll sort it out.
"But with the strength of the Premier League this year, I think it's the strongest one we've seen in a long time. You don’t want to fall behind by too many points too quickly.
"You know there’s time to win the points back, but there's teams around them that are picking up results and looking really strong at the minute, and if they don’t address the away form, the time is going to run out."
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