Premier League champions Manchester City are looking to get their UEFA Champions League campaign back on track when they visit Bundesliga side Hoffenheim at Wirsol Rhein-Neckar Arena in Sinsheim on Tuesday. The two teams have never met before in an European competition, but Hoffenheim do have a recent experience against an English outfit. The Bundesliga side faced Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League play-off last season and the Reds won 2-1 in Germany and 4-2 at home. Manchester City have a positive record against German teams, they have won nine of the nineteen matches that were played in European competitions and lost seven.
Hoffenheim are not having the best of season starts, but at least they have scored in every game they have played so far in all competitions. Their main problem seems to be the defence, as they failed to record a clean sheet in the eight matches they played since the start of the campaign. Their Champions League adventure started with a 2-2 draw at Shakhtar Donetsk two weeks ago, a good result for the German side but they still have some regrets as Shakhtar scored the equalizer on 81 minutes. Last weekend they lost 2-1 at home against RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga and dropped into the lower half of the league table.
Manchester City started their Champions League campaign on the wrong foot as they were stunned at home by Lyon two weeks ago, but every other competition seems to be going as planned for Pep Guardiola and his men. The Citizens have won all their three matches since the defeat against Lyon, two in the Premier League and one in the League Cup, scoring ten goals and keeping a clean sheet throughout those three games. Last weekend's 2-0 victory over Brighton brought them back at the top of the Premier League table, tied on 19 points with Liverpool. Kevin De Bruyne has returned to training but is not ready for a match yet, while Benjamin Mendy and Sergio Aguero are fitness doubts.
Probable line-ups:
Hoffenheim: Baumann - Akpoguma, Vogt, Posch - Kaderabek, Bittencourt, Grillitsch, Kramaric, Schulz - Joelinton, Szalai
Man City: Ederson - Danilo, Kompany, Laporte, Zinchenko - B. Silva, Fernandinho, D. Silva - Sterling, Jesus, Sane
My prediction: Manchester City to win 3-1, the Citizens will most likely take advantage of Hoffenheim's leaky defence.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Hoffenheim win - 7.50
Draw - 5.75
Man City win - 1.40
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