Manchester City Given 5-1 Odds to Win Every Champions League Group Stage Match
- Guardiola’s side have inviting draw but have made slippery EFL start
- They won five group games in 2017-18 and four last season
- Clean sweep has been achieved only six times in UCL
Manchester City have had a stuttering start to the defense of the English Premier League title but now the prize they covet most comes into view.
Opening their Champions League campaign away against Ukraine’s Shaktar Donetsk on September 18, at Metalist Stadium, at 3:00 pm EST, they have a quick chance to recover from last weekend’s shock 3-2 defeat by newly-promoted Norwich City in the EPL.
However, the analysts believe that City will not achieve the feat of winning all six group games, with Italian newcomers Atalanta and preliminary round qualifiers Dinamo Zagreb also included.
Odds Man City Will Win All UCL Group Stage Games
| Result | Odds |
|---|---|
| Yes | +500 |
| No | -800 |
Odds taken at 2019/17/07.
Pick: Yes +500
The odds of +500 look inviting. The price of -800 against is more realistic but this set of numbers makes a low-level calculated risk on a clean run through the group reasonably worthwhile.
Pep Guardiola’s team are favorites to win the competition outright. Their straight-choice prices offer +325 to win and -450 that they won’t.
Serious Defensive Worries
On current early season form and facing serious defensive worries, “No” looks more promising. And the defensive crisis worsened for City when John Stones was ruled out for at least five weeks after suffering a muscular injury while training in Ukraine ahead of the Shaktar tie this morning.
The group stage sweep has only been managed six times since the European Cup switched to the Champions League format in 1992.
Everything you need to know ahead of our #UCL opener in one place…
🔵 #ManCity
— Manchester City (@ManCity) September 17, 2019
City beat Shaktar home and away in last season’s group stage. And this season’s Group C line-up does not look particularly threatening.
Should they take command of Group C quickly and claim top spot, their focus may switch to domestic matters later in the winter.
The other teams in the group are evenly matched. So if they score points off each other regularly, it would hand City an early advantage as their three rivals battle it out.
Odds Manchester City Wins UCL
| Result | Odds |
|---|---|
| Yes | +325 |
| No | -450 |
Pick: No -450
However, there has been criticism of City’s current, stand-in centre-back pairing of John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi which could threaten their hopes in Europe.
https://twitter.com/dega_desy/status/1173751439702839296?s=20
After five fixtures, they trailed leaders Liverpool by five points in the EPL.
Injured Until January
Leading centre-back Aymeric Laporte will be out injured until at least January and stalwart Vincent Kompany has left the club.
Coach Guardiola will be eager to have Laporte back for the UCL knockout stages. If not, he could buy a defender in the January transfer window.
In season 2017-18, City won their first five group stage ties – losing 2-1 at Shaktar Donetsk after they had already secured their place in the knockout rounds.
They won four group games last season.
Are @LFC and @ManCity the favourites for this year's @UEFA @ChampionsLeague? Football's elite men's club competition gets underway this evening @Independent #ChampionsLeague https://t.co/U44zkuLH60
— Calacus PR (@Calacus_PR) September 17, 2019
Shaktar were beaten 3-0 at home by City last season and 6-0 in Manchester.
Atalanta are in the UCL for the first time after a third-placed finish in Serie A last season.
Shaktar were beaten 3-0 at home by City last season and 6-0 in Manchester.
Croatia’s Dinamo Zagreb negotiated two qualifying rounds and a playoff to reach the group.
Seeking Elite Status
City are seeking their first Champions League triumph to validate their status as relative newcomers among the European elite.
https://twitter.com/FootyNewsMedia/status/1173855056053067781?s=20
Guardiola is keen for a UCL triumph after spending huge amounts of cash to build City’s lavishly-appointed squad.
He has won it twice before with Barcelona in 2009 and 2011 but did not reach a final in three years at Bayern Munich.
John Dillon is a leading member of the UK's sporting media, having spent three decades as a national newspaper soccer and sports writer, broadcaster and author. He has covered five World Cups, six European Championships and was Chief Sports Writer at the Daily Express for 14 years.
