Manchester City vs Celtic – Preview and Prediction

MANCHESTER CITY VS CELTIC BETTING TIPS
Manchester City suffered their first home defeat of the season on Saturday as Chelsea came from a goal behind to deservedly win 3-1 in an excellent game which was marred by ugly scenes from a frustrated Manchester City at the end. Sergio Aguero was sent off for an horrendous knee high challenge and was shortly followed by Fernandinho, with both now expected to serve three match bans for violent conduct.

This does mean that both players are likely to play on Tuesday despite the fact that Manchester City have nothing left to play for in the Champions League. With Barcelona four points ahead and City already qualified for the knockout stages Aguero would probably have been rested for this one, but with him out of domestic action now he’s much more likely to take to the pitch.

Manchester City’s defeat to Chelsea continued their rather turbulent start under Pep Guardiola. After an early season winning streak City have now won just four of their last 13 matches, losing four times and drawing five. At home they have won just one of their last five and have only managed three clean sheets in their ten home games in all competitions.

Celtic’s weekend could have been as bad as Manchester City’s, but despite going two goals down to Motherwell their dominance eventually prevailed in a thrilling 4-3 victory. This made it seven wins from their last nine matches in all competitions, but none of those victories have come in Europe.

In the Champions League they have lost three and drawn two of their group matches and are already out of the competition. With Borussia Monchengladbach holding a better head to head record they don’t even have a chance of reaching the Europa League, so neither team has anything but pride to play for on Tuesday.

This means that there is likely to be some rotation among the squads, and it’s something we can take advantage of in our predictions. Manchester City’s defence is hardly setting any performance benchmarks at the moment, and a second string one is unlikely to prove any better. As such I think Celtic will find the net, but Aguero and Iheanacho are both likely to take part so Celtic’s chances of a clean sheet are low too. Backing Both Teams to Score at 7/10 looks a good option, and I’m going for a 3-1 win for the hosts at 9/1 as well.

As far as individual goalscorers go I’m tempted by Moussa Dembele. The French wonderkid has been an absolute revelation this season and has already scored three Champions League goals in addition to seven in the Scottish Premiership. Backing him looks the best choice for our anytime goalscorer predictions.

HEAD TO HEAD
Manchester City have won one and drawn one of their two previous meetings with Celtic.
MANCHESTER CITY VS CELTIC STATS
Both teams have scored in 70% of Manchester City’s home games this season.
MANCHESTER CITY TEAM NEWS

Raheem Sterling is hoping to shake off a knock and play on Tuesday, but Vincent Kompany won’t be back until the new year.
CELTIC TEAM NEWS

Left back Kieran Tierney remains out, whilst Scott Sinclair faces another few days on the sidelines with a thigh problem.

MANCHESTER CITY VS CELTIC PREDICTIONS over 2.5