Shakhtar Donetsk have a decisive match ahead of them on Wednesday, when they host Premier League leaders Manchester City at the OSC Metalist Stadium in Kharkiv, the Miners have to avoid defeat in order to qualify from UEFA Champions League Group F. The reverse fixture ended with a comfortable 2-0 victory for Manchester City, who have won all their five group matches so far. Shakhtar have won three out of five matches, but lost to both Man City and Napoli.
Shakhtar Donetsk's 3-0 defeat at Napoli last time out leaves them with two options to qualify, either beat Manchester City on Wednesday or hold them to a draw. That could be easier said than done, despite the fact that Manchester City are already certain of their qualification and might field a weakened starting eleven. After the defeat at Napoli, Shakhtar secured three consecutive wins in all competitions on the domestic front, but the quality of the opponents is nowhere near what the Citizens can display, even with the reserves. Sergey Krivtsov and Maksim Malyshev are injured, while Bogdan Butko and Taison might also miss out.
Manchester City don't have anything to gain on Wednesday and they don't have anything to lose either, but manager Pep Guardiola will surely want his side to play for victory and extend their amazing run. They have not lost a single match since the start of the season and won all but one game. The Citizens will face Manchester United in the Manchester Derby next weekend, so the manager will surely choose to rest most of his key players ahead of that big battle. However, the others will surely give their all to impress the boss and this match is one of the few chances they get.
Probable line-ups:
Shakhtar: Pyatov - Petryak, Ordets, Rakitskiy, Ismaily - Fred, Stepanenko - Marlos, Kovalenko, Bernard - Ferreyra
Man City: Ederson - Danilo, Mangala, Otamendi, Delph - Fernandinho - B. Silva, Gundogan, Toure, Sane - Jesus
My prediction: Manchester City to win 2-1.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Shakhtar win - 2.62
Draw - 2.39
Man City win - 2.87
Your feedback
Please enter your comment.
Your comment is added.
Comments (1)
sharpe
12/11/17, 02:12:19 PM
The Shakhtar win in this one shouldn't be so surprising I think as the game was a lot more important for them than for City who have to be in top condition for end...
The Shakhtar win in this one shouldn't be so surprising I think as the game was a lot more important for them than for City who have to be in top condition for end of the week clash with United. Both teams are in the next stage now as probably both have a good chance of progress in the tournament.
Show more
