Manchester City will welcome Club Brugge to the Etihad this Wednesday to play their fourth Champions League game of the season.
Venue: Etihad Stadium (Manchester)
Key Statistics
Manchester City have failed to score in their last two games.
They have kept just one clean sheet in their last five games.
Club Brugge have won three of their last five games (D1, L1).
They have not lost an away game in five games (W3, D2).
Head to head
The first time both teams met was in this year’s UCL with Manchester City winning the tie 5-1.
Latest Performances in all competitions
Manchester City: L-L-W-W-W
Club Brugge: W-W-D-L-W
Manchester City
Manchester City were stunned by Crystal Palace over the weekend as goals from Wilfried Zaha and Conor Gallagher condemned the Premier League defending champions to a 2-0 loss.
The result meant that Pep Guardiola’s side enter this game with two losses from their last two games and without a goal in that period.
The former Barcelona manager will be looking to get the right response from his squad when he welcomes Club Brugge to the Etihad.
The home team are sitting in second place behind PSG, but will hope to keep the gap between them and the French side little.
Meanwhile, Ferran Torres is the only injury absentee for Pep Guardiola who has a full squad to select from.
Possible Manchester City starting line-ups
Ederson; Oleksandr Zinchenko, Nathan Ake, John Stones, Kyle Walker; Fernandinho, Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva; Jack Grealish, Raheem Sterling, Riyad Mahrez
Club Brugge
Belgian side Club Brugge travel to England looking to cause another upset in their Champions League group.
The visitors are the lowest-seeded side in their group but have performed admirably in the UCL this year. They are sitting in third place with four points after drawing with PSG and beating RB Leipzig so far.
Although they lost to Man City in the reverse fixture, they remain a formidable side and should be confident of picking up points in this game. Given that they have not lost an away game in five travels, they will fancy their chances of leaving England with their unbeaten record intact.
Meanwhile, Philippe Clement will be without Eder Balanta, who is suspended for this game after his booking in the reverse fixture. Other than that, the Belgian side have a fully fit squad.
Possible Club Brugge starting line-ups
Simon Mignolet; Eduard Sobol, Stanley N’Soki, Jack Hendry, Clinton Mata; Ruud Vormer, Mats Rits, Noa Lang, Kamal Sowah; Hans Vanaken, Charles De Ketelaere.
Prediction
Man City’s loss to West Ham and Crystal Palace has proven that things do not always go right for Guardiola and his well-oiled side.
The ‘Cityzens’ however, will want to use their recent frustrations as a springboard to pick up all three points in this game. But Club Brugge proved against PSG and RB Leipzig that they are no pushovers in this group.
The Belgian side have their minds set on qualifying, at least for Europa League and will do all they can to take home a point from this tie.
