A couple weeks ago, Manchester City absolutely throttled Atalanta BC 5-1 at home, in Champions League Group C action. Now comes the return fixture, in Italy, and a similar result is expected. Halfway through UCL group stage play, City sits in the driver seat of the group and looks almost certain to go through to the knockout round.
Let’s take a look at the Citizens team news heading into the trip to the San Siro. Midfielder and summer transfer window addition Rodri is out until after the international break with a thigh injury. There is hope that he could be good to go for the Chelsea match.
Defender Oleksandr Zinchenko has a chronic knee problem that required surgery; he’ll about for all of November, in hopes that he might be back for the Manchester derby in December. David Silva was forced off at halftime in the win over Southampton with a strained hamstring.
It is unknown how severe the injury is, but even if he’s fit, he could be rested anyway. Place him in the doubt category. Phil Foden was booked in the reverse fixture, two yellows, equaling one red, so he’s unavailable for this one.
Elsewhere, Leroy Sane and Aymeric Laporte remain long term injury absentees.
Manchester City vs Atalanta BC (UCL) FYIs
Kickoff: Nov. 6, 8pm San Siro
Manchester City starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Pep Guardiola and Player TBC press conference video: coming tomorrow
Google’s result probability: 63% Manchester City win, 20% draw, 17% Atalanta BC victory
Form Guide: Man City WWW Atalanta BC LLL
Prediction: Manchester City 3, Atalanta BC 1
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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