Villarreal vs Manchester City Prediction: Haaland to do another St-Erling job

Lessons will need to be learned when Manchester City return to Uefa Champions League action on Tuesday (20:00 BST, TNT Sports 1) as they travel to Spain to face Villarreal. The Citizens were held to a draw at Monaco last time out having led twice.

Their Spanish hosts have enjoyed a bright start in La Liga as they sit third, but that form is yet to translate to the European stage. Below you will find my Villarreal vs Manchester City predictions, featuring the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

Logan Costa (ACL) and ex-Man Utd defender Willy Kambwala (hamstring) remain sidelined for Villarreal, while Juan Foyth (unspecified) is a doubt to feature on Tuesday, leaving the hosts light in defence.

Forward Pau Cabanes (also ACL) completes a four-man injury list for the hosts, but in brighter news, right-back Santiago Mourino is available again after serving a domestic suspension at the weekend.

He is set to come straight back into the side, most likely to feature alongside former Arsenal winger Nicolas Pepe and forward Georges Mikautadze, who combined for Villarreal's first goal in the 2-2 draw with Juventus.

Football Odds

City boss Pep Guardiola may hand Omar Marmoush and Rayan Cherki their first UCL minutes of the campaign now that they are back from injury. There is a chance that defender Rayan Ait-Nouri could make the squad after a spell on the sidelines with an ankle problem.

Abdukodir Khusanov (calf) and Rodri (hamstring) are set to miss out again because of their respective injury troubles.

Today's Football Fixtures

Villarreal vs Manchester City Odds

Villarreal have won four of their six home games in all competitions this season and they are 18/5 to come out on top here.

Their last two appearances here have ended in a stalemate, with the draw priced at 3/1.

City have won seven matches from 11 this term and they are 8/11 (implied probability of 57.9%) to collect the three points.

Over 3.5 goals has been a successful bet in Villarreal's last two appearances at La Ceramica and it is marketed at 6/4 for Tuesday.

Manchester City to win to nil @ 11/5

City had things to work on after suffering a late equaliser against Monaco at the start of the month, but Pep Guardiola's side have just recorded a third consecutive win on the spin in the Premier League, so they are heading to Spain in high spirits.

This will be a test for them to see if they have learned from the last match in Europe, and I think the Citizens will have studied hard. This is going to be a tough place to visit as the Yellow Submarine are yet to taste defeat on home soil this term.

One thing I will say is that they have not had to face Erling Haaland and Jeremy Doku, who have both started the season brilliantly for the visitors. And that is just a fraction of the attacking quality they will bring to Villarreal.

The Citizens are showing a lot more grit in their performances than they were last season and they have just recorded back-to-back clean sheets in the Premier League. They have won to nil in six of their seven victories this term and I think this trend is worth backing to continue.

Player to score two or more goals - Erling Haaland @ 10/3

It was yet another brace for Haaland on Saturday as his goals were enough to take down Everton. That made it 11 goals in eight for the centre-forward in the league. He has not been hanging about in the Champions League either, having netted three across the first two matches.

He bagged two against Monaco at the start of the month, and his double against Everton makes it five braces for the Norway international across all competitions at this stage of the season. Haaland is in unstoppable form at the moment and I don't know how Villarreal are supposed to keep him quiet.

It's a bet I've picked out a few times this season and probably will do for the rest of the campaign. He's simply that good in front of goal.

Offers

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