Manchester City’s wretched run to continue with Champions League draw against Juventus
Both teams are well below their best.
Manchester City’s current malaise is football’s equivalent of the fall of the Roman Empire, a mighty force which has conquered Europe now being ripped apart by inferior opposition.
So it’s fitting the next instalment of this end to a magnificent dynasty is in Italy against a Juventus side which is also failing to meet sky high expectations. City’s 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace on Saturday means they have won just once in their last nine matches while Juve had to fight back from 2-0 behind to salvage a point against Bologna.
The once proud Serie A rulers have won only twice in their last ten matches, drawing seven of them, and both clubs are struggling to make the expected impact in the Champions League group stage.
City’s 4-1 defeat at Sporting was a terrible result before surrendering a three-goal lead at home to Feyenoord when having to settle for a point in a 3-3 draw was another monumental blow. Juve won their first two matches in the competition but were then stunned when they lost at home to Stuttgart before drawing at Lille and Aston Villa.
Both City and Juventus have work to do to book a place in the top 24 and secure extra matches in the play-offs while defeat in this game would leave them looking over their shoulders and fearing an early exit.
With so much on the line and both clubs suffering an exhaustive injury list, this is likely to be a tense affair with goals at a premium. Juventus have kept ten clean sheets from 15 domestic league games so far and have only allowed ten goals against them and can keep City at bay to secure a draw at 5/2 with bet365 and Bet Victor.
A 1-1 draw is 11/2 with William Hill and numerous others while under 2.5 goals is 4/5 across the board.
• Arsenal were dealt a Premier League blow when they were held to a 1-1 draw at Fulham on Sunday but can return to winning ways by beating Monaco at the Emirates Stadium. They are 20/23 with BoyleSports, SpreadEx and Sporting Index to lead HT/FT and Bukayo Saka is 5/1 with Paddy Power, Betfair, BetMGM and Unibet to open the scoring. The England star is 17/10 with the latter two firms to score at any time.
• England are evens with Sky Bet to win the third Test with New Zealand and make a clean sweep of the series while the brilliant Harry Brook is 7/2 with Paddy Power and Betfair to be their top run scorer.
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