Manchester City look to continue their march into the UEFA Champions League knockouts as they visit Atalanta at the San Siro.
City will secure qualification as Group C winners with victory and a draw between Shakhtar Donetsk and Dinamo Zagreb., whilst Atalanta must win to keep their own qualification hopes alive.
Team news
Embed from Getty ImagesDuvan Zapata is a doubt for Atalanta as he nears in on a return from a muscle injury, although he could make the bench but is unlikely to start.
Manchester City will be without David Silva after a muscular injury forced him off against Southampton at half-time on Saturday.
Oleksandr Zinchenko, Leroy Sane and Aymeric Laporte are all still absent with knee injuries, alongside Rodrigo who is recovering from a hamstring injury.
Stat Attack
- Manchester City won their only previous meeting with Atalanta, running out 5-1 winners at the Etihad two weeks ago.
- Atalanta have conceded the most goals in the opening three Matchdays of this season’s Group Stage, leaking in 11 goals and only scoring twice.
- City have won and lost two of their last four away trips to Italian opposition, keeping just one clean sheet which came against AS Roma in December 2014.
Prediction
I can see this proving to be a tougher trip for Man City than they might expect because Italy has been an inconsistent country for them to visit in terms of form.
Atalanta meanwhile have scored in five of their six home (despite not playing at their own stadium due to renovation works) matches in all competitions, so I am expecting them to cause City a few problems here.
It is also worth remembering that City haven’t had an away game in two and a half weeks, which is bound to affect them slightly physiologically but if they continue to apply their attacking pressure then they should win this.
Prediction: Atalanta 1-2 Manchester City
Result: Atalanta 1-1 Manchester City
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