Take a look at our betting predictions, team news and betting tips for the Champions League match between Man City and Sparta Prague on Wednesday 23rd October (8pm BST).
Tip 1
City’s defensive problems were present once again on Sunday after they went a goal behind against 20th-placed Wolves.
Jorgen Strand Larsen’s finish means that Wednesday’s hosts have kept just one clean sheet in their last six games.
Ipswich, Brentford, Watford and Fulham have all come to the Etihad and scored at least one goal which bodes well for Sparta Prague’s chances of breaching Ederson’s goal.
The free-scoring away side were last shut out 21 games ago, going back to last season. They also netted in both Europa League clashes with fellow Premier League outfit Liverpool in last term’s run in that competition.
Tip 2
With all that said, forward Veljko Birmancevic can test the Brazilian shot stopper on one of the chances that his team manage to carve out for themselves.
He’s done so on six times from 14 total efforts in this competition, stretching back to Sparta Prague’s qualifiers and play-off ties to enter the league phase.
He’s met this line in three of his four appearances stretching back to the two play-off matches with FCSB, including in back-to-back games against Salzburg and Stuttgart.
City were forced to develop two unfamiliar characteristics in Sunday’s win over Wolves: first to come from behind and secondly to produce a match winning goal in the dying stages of a game.
Kyle Walker and Kevin De Bruyne remain sidelined, as do long-term absentees Rodri and Oscar Bobb.
Man City Predicted XI: Ederson; Lewis, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol; Gundogan, Nunes; Bernardo, Foden, Grealish; Haaland.
Iron Sparta recovered from their defeat to rivals Slavia Prague last time out with a tight 2-1 victory over Liberec in the Czech First League.
Imanol Garcia is both injured and ineligible for this match, while Elias Cobbaut is unexpected to appear after not featuring at all for the visitors so far this season.
Sparta Prague Predicted XI: Vindahl; Vitik, Panak, Zeleny; Preciado, Kairinen, Laci, Wiesner; Birmancevic, Rrahmani, Haraslin.
This game is the first time that these two clubs will meet.
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