Although Manchester City have already qualified for the knockout stages, there is still a chance that they could top the group, should they win and Juventus lose at Sevilla. Also we have the battle for 3rd place and essentially Monchengladbach need to equal or better Sevilla’s result.
Manchester City started the season with 5 straight wins, and after a very poor 0-2 defeat away at Stoke last weekend Manuel Pellegrini’s side have only won 1 of their last 4 Premier league matches. This defeat left City in 3rd place on 29 points and their recent home record reads a very strong looking W13, D0, L2.
When hosting sides placed in the Top 6 City’s record reads W6, D1, L3 and it should be noted that they have lost their last 2 of these games. City’ European home record reads a very mixed W4, D1, L5.
Since 2000 this is the first time these 2 sides have met in this competition. The 2 sides last met in Manchester in the UEFA Cup in 1979 with the game ending 1-1. Borussia Monchengladbach had very much the opposite start to Manchester City where they lost their first 5 matches. However they have now won 8 of their last 10 and they are coming into this match after registering an excellent 3-1 win at home to Champions Bayern Munich. This victory left Monchengladbach in 3rd place on 26 points. Monchengladbach’s recent away record reads W7, D4, L4 and when facing the Top 6 sides away from home, their record again reads a reasonable W4, D1, L5.
Borussia Monchengladbach have minimal Champions League experience and their recent away record reads W1, D1, L1.
Goal Stats
Looking at the goal line then we have some mixed stats. Looking at City’s last 10 European home ties, only 2 have seen 2 or less goals scored, with 4 having seen 4 or more scored. When looking at Monchengladbach’s away record to the top 6 domestic sides then only 2 games have seen 4 or more goals scored, with 6 finishing with 2 or less. Here my ratings are suggesting value backing Under 3.0/3.5 goals.
Summary
Here there is very much to play for and when looking at the other group match, Sevilla who have won the Europa League for the past two seasons will be desperate to beat Juventus in order to pip Monchengladbach for the vital 3rd place. Although City are deserved favourites to win this game, my ratings suggest they are priced a little low. For my trade I am turning to the goal line where Monchengladbach will be wanting to keep things tight. The German side are yet to score away this campaign. It should also be noted that when visiting the Top 6 Bundesliga sides Monchengladbach have only conceded more than 1 goal twice in 10 matches. Here my ratings suggest value in the Unders and my recommended trade for this match is Under3.0/3.5 goals at around 1.89.