Manchester City v Borussia Dortmund predictions: Citizens can record key shutout

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Man City v Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Where to watch

BT Sport 2, 8pm

Best bet

Manchester City to win to nil
1pt 6-5 Betfair, Paddy Power

Team news

Man City
The hosts are set to be without Kyle Walker, Aymeric Laporte and John Stones. Erling Haaland and Manuel Akanji should start against their former club.

Borussia Dortmund
Thorgan Hazard, Mateu Morey and Mahmoud Dahoud are out along with first-choice goalkeeper Gregor Kobel. Young trio Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Donyell Malen and Karim Adeyemi are doubts.

Match preview

Erling Haaland dazzled in his two-and-a-half year spell with Borussia Dortmund and has shown no sign of slowing down since signing for Manchester City, who are fancied to sweep aside his former club at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday.

Having started the new Premier League campaign on fire with ten goals in six matches, Haaland bagged his 25th goal in 20 matches in the Champions League last Tuesday as City romped to a 4-0 win away to Sevilla in their Group G opener.

Dortmund also began the group stage on a winning note, swatting aside Copenhagen 3-0 at the Signal Iduna Park, but that was followed by a humbling defeat by the same scoreline against rejuvenated Leipzig on Saturday.

The Black & Yellows looked desperately in need of former marksman Haaland on that occasion, failing to register a single shot on target against the Red Bulls, now managed by former Dortmund boss Marco Rose.

The absence of enterprising forwards Donyell Malan and Karim Adeyemi, who are also doubts for this fixture, has not helped matters in the final third for Dortmund, who are likely to be spearheaded by veteran striker Anthony Modeste once again.

Modeste is very much a makeshift forward option for Dortmund, who had signed Sebastien Haller as Haaland's replacement in the summer but are currently without the Frenchman, who is receiving treatment for a malignant testicular tumour.

Marco Reus of course offers a decent attacking threat but the bottom line is Dortmund are lacking firepower and three of their four Bundesliga triumphs this season have been by 1-0 margins.

Opportunities for the visitors could be few and far between at the Etihad, where Manchester City have won their three competitive games this season by an aggregate scoreline of 14-2 against Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth.

City should also be the fresher of the teams after a weekend of no Premier League football and punters can expect a slick and efficient performance from Guardiola's side, who are as short as 1-6 to take maximum points and 1-10 to top their section.

Dortmund are renowned as an entertaining side but it is on home soil where they typically turn on the style in the Champions League and their lack of star attacking options means Edin Terzic needs to tweak their approach for this game.

City should fancy their chances of keeping Dortmund at bay and a win to nil could represent value at 6-5 as the Manchester club look to assert their authority in Group G.

Key stat

Manchester City are unbeaten in their last seven matches in all competitions.

Inside info

Manchester City

Penalty taker Erling Haaland
Assist ace Kevin De Bruyne
Set-piece aerial threat Ruben Dias
Card magnet Joao Cancelo

Borussia Dortmund

Penalty taker Marco Reus
Assist ace Marco Reus
Set-piece aerial threat Anthony Modeste
Card magnet Thomas Meunier

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