Defending champions Manchester City are looking to get a winning streak going at the start of the new campaign, all they need to do is defeat Huddersfield at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday. Last season the Citizens defeated Huddersfield 2-1 away from home with goals from Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling, but the reverse fixture ended with a surprising goalless draw. In fact, Manchester City have won just two of their last six meetings with Huddersfield in all competitions and even lost 1-0 at home to them in 1999, when both teams were playing in the Championship.
Manchester City started their Premier League title defence with a convincing 2-0 victory over Arsenal last weekend, even though Pep Guardiola's men have not been at their very best. Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva scored against Arsenal for the second consecutive 2-0 victory for Man City after the Community Shield success against Chelsea. The optimistic mood in the Citizens' camp was somehow dimmed this week by a serious injury in training to Kevin De Bruyne, it seems he has a twisted knee and he will be out for at least a couple of months. Danilo and Eliaquim Mangala are also injured, while David Silva is lacking match fitness.
Huddersfield started their season with a clear 3-0 home defeat against Chelsea last weekend, they were on the receiving end throughout that match and only managed to produce one shot on target in ninety minutes. Manager David Wagner chose to start with a three-man defence against Chelsea and, given the result, he might turn to a back four for Sunday's match in Manchester. Danny Williams, Juninho Bacuna, Isaac Mbenza are all injured, while Erik Durm is also expected to miss out as he is not match fit yet.
Probable line-ups:
Man City: Ederson - Walker, Stones, Laporte, Mendy - Gundogan, Fernandinho, B. Silva - Mahrez, Aguero, Sterling
Huddersfield: Lossl - Hadergjonaj, Schindler, Zanka, Kongolo - Mooy, Hogg - Para, Pritchard, Diakhaby - Mounie
My prediction: Manchester City to win 3-0, Pep Guardiola's football machine seems to be working as planned.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Man City win - 1.10
Draw - 13.00
Huddersfield win - 26.00
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