Manchester City vs Copenhagen

Etihad Stadium is the venue as high-flying Manchester City and out-of-form Copenhagen face each other in the third round of Champions League Group G.

Fresh from a 6-3 demolition of fierce rivals Manchester United at the weekend, Manchester City will be looking to tighten their grip on the top spot in Group G following a confident Champions League start. After a 4-0 thrashing of Sevilla on day one, Pep Guardiola’s team bounced back from a 1-0 deficit to beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 at home and seize control of proceedings in this group. Almost unplayable at the Etihad, the ‘Cityzens’ head into this encounter unbeaten in their last 21 Champions League home outings (W19, D2) and are just two games away from equalling the English record for the longest undefeated home run. Moreover, the defending Premier League champions have got on the scoresheet in all 34 previous group matches played at the Etihad, suggesting Copenhagen could be in trouble this midweek.

Scoreless after the opening two Champions League rounds (D1, L1), the visitors make this journey on the back of a narrow 1-0 home triumph over fellow Danish Superliga rivals Aarhus at the weekend. Despite putting an underwhelming four-game winless streak in all competitions to bed (D2, L2), Jacob Neestrup’s men are unlikely to improve their abysmal run of nine winless matches across their last ten Champions League fixtures on hostile turf (D2, L7), netting just five goals in that period. Scoring has not been Copenhagen’s strong suit against English sides in European football, as they’ve bagged just one goal in six previous such match-ups. And if you consider they’ve lost their last four competitive away outings, the Danes look doomed even before the kick-off.