Manchester City welcome Celtic to the Etihad and they will look to exorcise the demons of the weekend when they suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of a clinical Chelsea and slipped to the 4th spot in the table. The iffy form started when they played out an entertaining 3-3 draw at the Celtic Park which ended their run of 10 straight wins. They will be looking for revenge but the scenario of the group is such that the match is basically a dead rubber which will enable Pep Guardiola to make a host of changes and look to try out different players and formations.
Celtic, on the other hand, have pulled away from the rest and clear favourites to win their league. Rodgers was pretty chuffed last time when he stopped City and will be plotting a similar feat with his under-favoured side.
TRIVIA
1.Celtic’s only away win against English opposition in the European Cup/Champions League was in the 1969/70 semi-final when they beat Leeds at Elland Road (1-0).
2.Since then, Celtic have lost their two trips to England in Europe’s premier competition, both times conceding exactly three goals against Manchester United.
3.Manchester City have reached the knockout stages of the Champions League for the fourth season in a row. However, they have finished top of their group only once (2015/16). It’s also the first time Pep Guardiola hasn’t secured top spot in a Champions League group campaign as manager.
4.Manchester City are unbeaten in their last seven Champions League home games (W5 D2), their longest run without a defeat in the competition at the Etihad. They can win all three of their home games in a Champions League group stage for the first time.
TEAM NEWS
MANCHESTER CITY
Fernandinho received a three-game domestic ban for manhandling Chelsea’s Cesc Fabregas and will not feature against Celtic due to a one-game European suspension. Vincent Kompany is still out while Raheem Sterling is set to miss out once again having failed to recover from a knock to his knee. But Fabian Delph is likely to get his first taste of action in over 3 months.
CELTIC
Scott Sinclair, who is a former City player and left-back Kieran Tierney have been ruled out for Celtic due to hamstring and ankle injuries respectively. Erik Sviatchenko and striker Leigh Griffiths are in with a chance to feature after missing the last game.
PREDICTED LINE-UPS
MANCHESTER CITY (4-1-4-1)
Caballero; Zabaleta, Stones, Kolarov, Clichy; Fernando; Navas, Garcia, Delph, Sane; Aguero
CELTIC (4-2-3-1)
Gordon; Lustig, Simunovic, Toure, Izaguirre; Armstrong, Brown; Roberts, Rogic, Forrest; Dembele
BETTING ODDS
