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| Manchester City hosts Olympiacos in the Uefa Champions League Match Day 3 |
With two wins already secured in the Group, Manchester City has to be feeling they can not only earn a spot in the Last 16 over the next month, but also win this Champions League section. That should equal an 'easier' Last 16 tie than those who finish as Runners Up will earn, and Pep Guardiola is keen for his side to keep the momentum behind them.
Injuries have not helped Manchester City in the first two months of the season, but they have remained on track despite one or two setbacks. A big game coming up this weekend against Liverpool might mean some changes are made to the starting eleven for this fixture, but Pep Guardiola has dismissed overlooking Olympiacos. Instead the manager has made it clear that Manchester City have to keep their intensity up in the Champions League to ensure there are no slip ups with two of their remaining three Group games being played away from home following this one.
Home points are important and Manchester City is looking for a third straight victory at the Etihad Stadium after the collapse against Leicester City. They should be good enough to earn that even if one or two changes are made to the starting eleven. No disrespect to Olympiacos who remain the team to beat in Greece, but they have struggled when stepping up to the European level in recent years. This is a team who have not travelled very well and have been beaten in their last 8 away Champions League ties including the 2-0 defeat at Porto last week. They do offer an attacking threat, but Olympiacos have rarely played well in England having been beaten in 14 of 17 European ties played in this nation.
Last season they did win at Arsenal, but Tottenham Hotspur came from 0-2 down to beat Olympiacos 4-2 in the Champions League Group Stage and Wolves knocked them out of the Europa League with a 1-0 win at Molineux. I do think Olympiacos will have a couple of chances in this one, but Manchester City look to have made a real effort on their defensive formations of late. That could be on show again on Tuesday as they look for another three points to move a step closer to the Last 16 and the best play here may be backing the home team to win with a clean sheet at odds against. Olympiacos have not scored in 3 of their last 4 away Champions League games and also failed to hit the net in the loss at Wolves in the Europa League in August.
They have scored just a single goal in 3 away games in all competitions ahead of this game and Manchester City have restricted opponents to very little good chances in recent games.
HEAD TO HEAD
This is the first time Manchester City and Olympiacos are meeting in a competitive fixture
PREDICTION
Manchester City 2-0 Olympiacos (Manchester City Win)