Manchester City v Shakhtar Donetsk: Champions League preview, free tip & TV

Football tips, best bets and predictions for Manchester City v Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League.

Where to watch

BT Sport 3, 8pm Tuesday

Best bet

Man City-Man City double result
1pt 4-6 Betfair, BoyleSports, Coral, Ladbrokes

Team news

Manchester City
Phil Foden returns from a ban but Claudio Bravo is suspended and Sergio Aguero (muscle strain) joins Oleksandr Zinchenko, Leroy Sane and Aymeric Laporte (all knee) on the sidelines.

Shakhtar Donetsk
Junior Moraes (ankle) is available but Manor Solomon (hamstring) is out and Marlos serves a one-match ban.

Match preview

Manchester City need another point to rubber-stamp their passage to the Champions League last 16 and should not have any problems taking all three against Shakhtar Donetsk at the Etihad.

It is the third successive season that City and Shakhtar's paths have crossed in the group stage and recent encounters have been very one-sided.

Pep Guardiola's side have won the last three by an aggregate margin of 12-0 and there is a justifiable expectation of another stroll for his side this week.

Shakhtar were outclassed by City in Kharkiv on matchday one, losing the match 3-0 and the shot count 17-6.

They failed to win a single corner and would have lost by more goals had City's forwards been more ruthless in front of goal.

Recovering from such a defeat cannot have been easy but Shakhtar took five points from next three games and arrive in Manchester in second place.

They staged a remarkable fightback on their matchday-four trip to Dinamo Zagreb, salvaging a 3-3 draw with two injury-time goals.

It means they moved ahead of Dinamo by virtue of a better head-to-head record and, whatever happens in Manchester, they will go into their final match at home to Atalanta with a chance of qualification.

The contest against City may be viewed as a free hit by manager Luis Castro, who has steered his side 13 points clear of second-placed Dynamo Kiev at the top of the Ukrainian standings.

Any points gained would be a bonus but the task may soon turn into a damage-limitation exercise if City make an early breakthrough.

City are often at their most dangerous when they have a point to prove and that may still be the case, despite Saturday's 2-1 triumph at home to Chelsea.

They will not have given up hope of winning the Premier League but the nine-point gap to Liverpool – who have dropped just 13 league points this year – is going to be difficult to bridge.

Winning the Champions League looks a more realistic ambition and it is hard to argue with City's status as 3-1 competition favourites.

The knockout stages will present sterner challenges for them and there may be a need to add greater defensive steel in the January transfer window.

However, City have looked in a class of their own in Group C and should have no problem wrapping up top spot with another easy victory.