Old friends Manchester City and Shakthar Donetsk meet again at the Etihad Stadium and the Citizens will be hoping they can maintain the upper hand over their Ukranian counterparts to secure a berth in the last 16 of the competition.
Tuesday's clash will be the sixth meeting between the two sides in just three years. City have won four of the last five previous encounters, and scored 12 in the last three without conceding.
Pep Guardiola's side were held 1-1 at Atalanta on Matchday 4, which delayed their inevitable progress to the next round, but a point will be enough against Donetsk.
Luis Castro's side have enjoyed a good campaign so far, and sit second in Group C on five points. Defeat wouldn't be the end of the world for them either. It's possible they'd just need to beat Atalanta at home on Matchday 6 (assuming City win in Zagreb on the same night). That's because they have the comfort of knowing that they'll finish above the Croatians if both sides finish level on points, by virtue of a better head-to-head record. Shakhtar's three goals scored in a 3-3 draw in Zagreb usurping Dinamo's two in the 2-2 draw in Ukraine. Like most groups at this stage there are so many possibilities, but Shakhtar are in a reasonbly strong position and can afford to throw some caution to the wind in Manchester.
Domestically, they look like they've got the title sewn up already. They're 13 points clear at the top of the Ukraine Premier League after just 15 matches and boast an unbeaten record of 14 wins and one draw. They've notched 44 goals in the process (almost 3 per match) and failed to score just once. They've scored in three of four in the Group Stages; seven in the four games.
City's form hasn't been quite so impressive (W9 D1 L3) but they're still capable of blowing teams away, especially at home, where they've scored eight, five and four against Watford, Brighton and Atalanta respectively. Shakhtar were dismantled at the Etihad last season, eventually conceding six without reply.
City have now scored 25 goals in their last eight UEFA Champions League matches and as you may have guessed I'll be on goals again is this one. Over 2.5 goals is just 1/3 so we won't be touching that, but over 3.5 is well within reach and can be backed at 17/20 (NetBet).
Two or more first half goals also appeals. Ladbrokes go even money (1/1) that we'll see the ball hit the net more than once in the first 45 and that looks big considering the skinny odds on over 2.5.
With Sergio Aguero likely to miss out Raheem Sterling looks an even better bet to open the scoring at odds around 4/1. He's scored 14 goals in 18 club games this season, and has 18 goals and nine assists in 23 games for City and England in 2019/20. At 4/1 with Betfred, he's just on the cusp of a good each-way bet.
This UEFA Champions League match between Manchester City and Shakhtar Donetsk will be played on Nov 26, 2019 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Manchester City vs Shakhtar Donetsk prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
