THERE'S been an over-reaction to Man City's defeat at Norwich and they could bounce back in style on Wednesday night.
I even heard calls for Pep Guardiola to quit after his side's first Premier League defeat in 25.
That's ridiculous but there's no doubt the manager was rocked by the manner of the 3-2 defeat at Carrow Road.
There was some shocking defending and the lossses of Aymeric Laporte and John Stones are a massive blow with Fernandinho set to play as a makeshift centre-half.
Shakhtar were blown away by City last season – 3-0 at home and 6-0 away – and could suffer a backlash from the English champions. Norwich were 22-1 and the Ukraine men are 9s with City short at 1-3.
A value bet could be City to win and over 2.5 goals at 4-5 with Coral as on the evidence of Saturday they're unlikely to keep it clean, especially with their injury concerns.
Pep's men improved when Kevin de Bruyne was introduced at Norwich and he's a certain starter – consider him to score at 11-4 with William Hill.
The other game in Group C sees newcomers Atalanta head to Dinamo Zagreb and the Italians will fancy their chances of finishing second.
They finished third in Serie A last season and every chance of winning in Croatia. However, an away is a little short at 23-20 with Marathonbet so over 2.5 match goals could be a better bet at 19-20 with betfair as Atalanta are an attacking team.
Spurs kick off in Group B at Olympiakos and while they should beat the ordinary Greeks a best price of 19-20 is a bit skinny.
Son Heung-Min outshone Harry Kane in Saturday's 4-0 thumping of Crystal Palace so try him at 21-10 to score.
Bayern Munich are the shortest-priced favourites tonight at 1-12 at home to Red Star so finding value is difficult in the other Group B game. The Germans should ease to three points and Bayern -2 pays just 1-2.
But Robert Lewandowski has got his season off to a flier with seven goals in the opening four Bundesliga matches. He added another in the DFB Pokal at Energie Cottbus to take his tally to eight and we know already that he loves to score goals in the Champions League.
Robert Lewandowski has started the season on fire but the Pole is just 2-1 at Betfred to hit the opener.
Selectabet on his match preview has pointed out Bobby Madden is the ref and I wonder what German is for “the referee's a w*****”.
Madden has awarded seven penalties in nine games this season and best bet could be a Bayern spot-kick at 11-4 with bet365. A red card has a chance at 4-1 with Unibet.
Heavyweights PSG and Real Madrid meet in Group A and incredibly the French champions are without Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani. The Brazilian is banned and the others crocked so the fear factor has disappeared.
Not that Real are ever worried about facing the French as they are unbeaten against them in four meetings.
If their star trio were playing I'd be all over PSG but without all of them the odds gave to favour Real even if they've made a stuttering start to the season. Back them draw no bet at 13-10 with Marathonbet. For a straight win they are 2-1 at Ladbrokes.
Brugge v Galatasaray are basically fighting it out for third place and tonight's meeting in Belgian is tough to call. Maybe a bet to consider is Radamel Falcao to score for the Turks at 43-20 with Unibet as he loves this stage.
In Group D there is another big game between Atletico Madrid and Juventus and again where do we go with this one. I reckon UEFA have made a mistake playing so many matches between the top two seeds so early as they'd be more exciting back-to-back third and fourth fixtures.
Juve have trump card in the shape of Cristiano Ronaldo who will relish a return to Madrid at the home of his old foes. Ronaldo has been on fire and hit four for Portugal on the international break and is 11-5 at Unibet to score.
Bayer Leverkusen start at home to a Lokomotiv Moscow side that lost all three group games on the road a year ago and a home win pays just 2-5 at bet365.
Recommended Bets
- Shakhtar v Man City over 2.5 goals
- De Bruyne to score
- Zagreb v Atalanta over 2.5 goals
- Son to score
- Bayern Munich penalty
- Real Madrid draw no bet
- Falcao to score
- Ronaldo to score
- Bayer Leverkusen
Resident football tipster at Scotland's most read newspaper, the Daily Record, for over 20 years and proud host of one the best betting communities on the web with daily betting tips.
Total lack of goals last night but here’s to hoping the goals flow tonight
Shakhtar – Man City
Leverkusen – lokomotiv
Over 2.5mgs double 7/5
BTTS & Overs double 391/100
Olympiakos – Spurs
Zagreb – Atalanta
Club Brugge – Galatasaray
BTTS treble 81/20
16/1 for Shakhtar win btts is crazy odds worth a sausage or 2.