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Manchester City face a make or break tie in their maiden Champions League campaign as they play hosts to Napoli on Tuesday.
Roberto Mancini’s side have had an indifferent start to life in Group A compared to their rampant Premier League campaign thus far, but find themselves in second place behind Bayern Munich and battling it out with their opponents on Tuesday for the second qualifying spot behind the German giants.
Aleksandar Kolarov was the Blues saviour last time the two clubs met back in September, slotting hime a 74th minute free-kick to cancel out Edinson Cavani’s opener.
The game took on an another interesting dimension earlier this week after Mancini admitted he was interested in bringing Napoli trio Cavani, Ezequiel Lavezzi, and Marek Hamski to the Etihad Stadium during the transfer window.
Walter Mazzarri will be hopeful that the talented trio can demonstrate their worth against City and help claim the win that will put the Serie A side in the driving seat for qualification, although ironically a strong performance from any of the three could well seal their exit when the transfer window opens in little over a month.
Carlos Tevez remains in exile from the Etihad Stadium having refused to return from Argentina earlier, a move which appears to have ruined any chances of an amicable end to the Argentinian’s time in the North West, and Mancini will be hoping to put the issue to one side and focus on the task in hand.
The form of Mario Balotelli, Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero has meant that Tevez has hardly been missed so far, and the attacking trio will battle it out for a starting place on Tuesday, and with Balotelli getting the nod and finding the net in the 3-1 win over Newcastle on Saturday, the Italian will likely line up alongside Aguero and David Silva in a three pronged attack leaving Dzeko on the bench.
Napoli have seen their domestic form falter of late, and a 0-0 draw with fellow title hopefuls Lazio left them seven points off the pace in Serie A. Mazzarri will be hoping that his side can shake off their inconsistencies on home soil and land a real blow in the race to qualify for the knock out stages.
There was at least some good news for the Napoli boss as his side came through the game with a clean bill of health ahead of their tough trip to Manchester.
Match winner
In what should be a close encounter, Manchester edge the betting perhaps because of their home advantage. Napoli could be forgiven for feeling sorry for themselves having not taken all three points last time round having dominated huge chunks of the game, and a bet on the Italian side to extract revenge this time round is at 3/1 with Bet365.
Manchester City will look to go one better than last time and claim a precious win and are placed at 2.05 (21/20) for victory with BoyleSports, while the draw is 3.50 (5/2) with BlueSQ.
First Goalscorer
Manchester City dominate the first goal scorer market with their plethora of attacking talent, and Edin Dzeko leads the way at 6.50 (11/2) with VC Bet, although the Bosnian forward may not start meaning it is a risk not worth taking.
David Dilva has been City’s best player so far this season and is a dead cert to start, and the Spaniard is well placed at 9.00 (8/1) with BlueSQ.
Napoli will look to Edinson Cavani for a goal scoring spark, and the Uruguayan forward leads the way for the visitors at 8.00 (7/1) with William Hill, odds certainly worth considering taking advantage of.
Recommended bets
Correct score: 2-2, 15.00 (14/1) SportingBet
First Goalscorer: Edinson Cavani , 8.00 (7/1) William Hill
