Defending Premier League champions Manchester City are looking to bounce back from this week's Champions League defeat when they travel to Wales to face Cardiff at Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday. The two teams have met last season in the FA Cup and at that time Manchester City claimed a 2-0 victory in Cardiff with goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling. The last Premier League clashes between the two teams took place in the 2013-2014 season, back then the Citizens won 4-2 in Manchester but suffered a surprising 3-2 defeat in Cardiff.
Cardiff are still looking for their first win this season, they have lost three of their five Premier League matches so far and only gathered some points following goalless draws against Newcastle and Huddersfield in August. Their last two matches were against high-profile opposition and they lost them both, 3-2 at home against Arsenal before the international break and 4-1 at Chelsea last week. Aron Gunnarson, Josh Murphy and Harry Arter are all injury doubts for the home side ahead of this match, while Nathaniel Mendez-Laing will be out for some time with a knee injury.
Manchester City suffered a shock 2-1 defeat at home against Lyon in the Champions League this week, it was their first defeat of the season and a wake-up call for Pep Guardiola and his men. The Citizens have already dropped points in the Premier League following the 1-1 draw at Wolverhampton Wanderers in August, but last weekend they eased to a 3-0 victory over Fulham and everything seemed fine. Eliaquim Mangala, Claudio Bravo, Danilo and Kevin De Bruyne are still injured, but left-back Benjamin Mendy should be able to return to action, albeit from the bench. Sergio Aguero also had a slight ankle knock but he should recover in time for Saturday's match.
Probable line-ups:
Cardiff: Etheridge - Manga, Morrison, Bamba, Bennett - Camarasa, Arter, Ralls, Hoilett - Ward, Reid
Man City: Ederson - Walker, Stones, Laporte, Delph - B. Silva, Fernandinho, D. Silva - Sterling, Aguero, Sane
My prediction: Manchester City to win 3-1, Cardiff are just too weak to withstand the pressure that the Citizens will put on them.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Cardiff win - 23.00
Draw - 8.00
Man City win - 1.16
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