Premier League champions Manchester City kick off their Champions League campaign with a home match, they host French side Lyon at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday. The two teams have never met before in an European competition, even though both of them had regular presences in these events lately. Manchester City have won just two of their five matches against French teams in European competitions so far, while Lyon have defeated English teams just five times in eighteen matches.
Manchester City had an almost perfect start to the season, they won the Community Shield with a 2-0 victory over Chelsea and then grabbed back-to-back Premier League wins. They did suffer a setback as they were held to a 1-1 draw at newly-promoted Wolves, but since then they put together another winning streak by beating Newcastle and Fulham either side of the international break. Benjamin Mendy picked up a knock in last week's match and will sit this one out, along with Eliaquim Mangala and long-term absentees Claudio Bravo and Kevin De Bruyne.
Lyon had an indifferent start to the season, it could have been a lot better but it could have gone worse as well. They have won just two of their five Ligue 1 matches so far, and both wins were at home. Last week they fought back from 2-1 down to secure a 2-2 draw at Caen, but the home side had a player sent off on 55 minutes when the score was still level at 1-1. Amine Gouiri is injured and won't be available for this match, while Marcal is a doubt.
Probable line-ups:
Man City: Ederson - Walker, Laporte, Kompany, Delph - B. Silva, Fernandinho, D. Silva - Sterling, Jesus, Sane
Lyon: Lopes - Rafael, Marcelo, Denayer, F. Mendy - Tousart, N'Dombele - Traore, Fekir, Aouar - Depay
My prediction: Manchester City to win 4-1, the Citizens are way too powerful for this Lyon side.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Man City win - 1.18
Draw - 8.50
Lyon win - 17.00
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