Manchester City v Borussia Monchengladbach predictions: City giving little away

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Manchester City v Borussia Monchengladbach in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Where to watch

BT Sport 2, 8pm Tuesday

Best bet

Manchester City to win to nil
2pts 21-20 BoyleSports

Team news

Manchester City
Pep Guardiola has no fresh injury concerns. He is likely to revert to four at the back with Aymeric Laporte dropping to the bench.

Borussia Monchengladbach
Ramy Bensebaini and Christoph Kramer are unlikely to feature and French forward Marcus Thuram is a slight doubt.

Match preview

Borussia Monchengladbach were outclassed by Manchester City in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie and the Foals could be made to look like novices again when the teams meet for a second time in Budapest.

Bayern Munich have racked up some massive wins over Premier League opponents in recent seasons and there is a similar gulf in class between English league leaders City and out-of-sorts Gladbach.

The Bundesliga side are 12-1 shots to win in 90 minutes despite the second leg being held at a neutral venue due to German Covid-19 regulations.

The Puskas Arena was also the scene for City's impressive 2-0 win over Gladbach in the nominal away leg - the 19th game of what turned out to be a 21-match winning streak in all competitions.

That run was ended by a 2-0 derby defeat to Manchester United, who benefited from a second-minute penalty, but the Citizens bounced back swiftly, swatting aside Southampton 5-2 and Fulham 3-0 in their next two league matches.

The Cottagers had conceded only two goals in seven games before shipping three goals in 13 second-half minutes against the runaway leaders on Saturday.

The last of those was a Sergio Aguero penalty, his first league goal for 14 months, and the return to full fitness of the club's record goalscorer adds yet more depth to Pep Guardiola's squad.

At Craven Cottage, the City boss made seven changes to the 11 who had thumped Southampton. Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez were unused substitutes while Raheem Sterling was rested completely.

Guardiola's remarkable array of options is a huge advantage at a time when so many of City's rivals are weakened by injuries.

They are in total control of the title race, travel to Everton in the FA Cup quarter-finals on Saturday and face Tottenham in next month's EFL Cup final but the Champions League is the trophy they want most of all.

Last season's shock quarter-final defeat to Lyon was a bitter blow but there should be no alarms when they face a Gladbach side who have been woeful since last month's announcement that manager Marco Rose will be departing for Borussia Dortmund at the end of the season.

Gladbach's 3-1 defeat at Augsburg on Friday means they have taken just one point from the last 18 on offer in the Bundesliga and they were held at arm's length by City in the first leg.

Their only shot on target came in injury-time after goals from Bernardo Silva and Gabriel Jesus had put Pep's men in charge of the tie.

City can play low-risk football in the second leg and, having conceded just one goal in seven Champions League matches this season, they look well-equipped to seal qualification with another win to nil.

Key stat

Gladbach have lost seven of their last eight matches in all competitions.

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