8 Sept 2021
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Man City will be looking to go one better this year after their first Champions League final last term, though they’ve been handed a tough-looking group with PSG also involved.
Leipzig certainly represent a good test of their credentials, but the German outfit aren’t at their best having made a really poor start to the season with three defeats from four league games so far under new boss Jesse Marsch.
Both of Leipzig’s away fixtures this term have ended in 1-0 defeats to Mainz and Wolfsburg, while their most recent outing saw them thumped 4-1 at home to Bayern.
Ignoring a domestic cup win over second-tier Sandhausen, Leipzig have now gone just W1-D1-L6 in all competitions since the start of May, including further punishing defeats by 3-2 and 4-1 scorelines at the hands of Dortmund.
In fact, facing elite opposition Bayern, Dortmund and Liverpool, Leipzig have lost all seven fixtures this calendar year, conceding at least twice in all but one of these and going down by at least two clear goals on five occasions.
They’ve also lost three of four clashes with English sides since the start of last season, having encountered Man Utd in the group stages, with an aggregate 12-2 scoreline across those games.
Man City -1 Handicap
Man City kicked off their season with disappointing 1-0 defeats to Leicester in the Community Shield and Tottenham on the opening weekend.
However, they’ve since put those results firmly behind them and come into this fixture off the back of three consecutive victories by a combined 11-0 scoreline, including wins over Arsenal and Leicester.
A lack of a recognized centre-forward didn’t prevent them from racking up big scorelines last term and doesn’t appear to be a hinderance in the new campaign.
It remains to be seen if either Kevin De Bruyne or Phil Foden will be involved, with the duo restricted to the bench at the weekend following injury lay-offs.
However, Pep Guardiola has an embarrassment of riches and Bernardo Silva will hope to keep his place after his winner last time out. Only Zack Steffen and Benjamin Mendy are unavailable, though Guardiola may well tinker and hand starts to the likes of John Stones, Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling.
Man City have now won 13 of 17 unbeaten group stage matches in this competition, including seven of eight at the Etihad as they racked up 25 goals and conceded just four.
They’ve also emerged triumphant in 12 of their past 13 encounters with German sides, including all eight sine 2018/19.
PREDICTION:
MAN CITY -1 HANDICAP
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