Manchester City vs Shakhtar Donetsk Preview: How to Watch, Live Stream, Kick Off Time & Team News
Pep Guardiola's Manchester City side look to maintain their grip at the top of their Champions League group when they take on Shakhtar Donetsk at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night.
After beating the Ukrainian side 3-0 in the reverse fixture with a clinical and professional performance, City will hope for more of the same as they look to book a safe passage into the round of 16.
With Shakhtar currently bottom of the group with two points, a win at the Etihad is vital to keeping their chances of progression to the knockout stages alive, and arrive on the back of some positive domestic results.
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Check out 90min's preview for Wednesday's Champions League game.
How to Watch
When Is Kick Off? | Wednesday 7 November |
What Time Is Kick Off? | 20:00 (BST) |
Where Is it Played? | Etihad Stadium |
TV Channel/Live Stream? | BT Sport 3 |
Referee? | Viktor Kassai |
Team News
Guardiola will have a near-full strength City squad to choose from on Wednesday night with Belgium international Kevin De Bruyne and German midfielder Ilkay Gundogan the only notable absentees.
Both Riyad Mahrez and Gabriel Jesus were named on the substitutes bench for City's Premier League win against Southampton at the weekend and could feature from the start against Shakhtar.
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Encouragingly for Shakhtar, manager Paulo Fonseca will welcome the return of two of their key Brazilian players who missed their 3-0 defeat to City earlier on in the group stage.
Both Taison and Dentinho made appearances in Shakhtar's 2-1 victory over Dynamo Kiev and are likely to be involved against City.
Predicted Lineups
Manchester City | Ederson; Walker, Stones, Laporte, Mendy; Bernardo Silva, Fernandinho, David Silva; Sterling, Mahrez, Jesus. |
Shakhtar Donetsk | Pyatov; Butko, Kryvtsov, Rakitskiy, Ismaily; Maycon, Stepanenko; Dentinho, Alan Patrick, Taison; J. Moraes. |
Head to Head Record
The two sides have faced each other just three times in their history, with all of them coming in these last two years. After were being drawn in the same group last season both teams shared a victory apiece, with City winning 2-0 at home before falling to a 2-1 defeat at the Donbass Arena.
This season, City ran out comfortable winners in difficult away conditions with goals from David Silva, Aymeric Laporte and Bernardo Silva underlining a dominant team performance.
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Recent Form
City have been in excellent form since their disappointing 2-1 home defeat to Lyon in the Champions League in mid-September.
They are currently on a nine-match unbeaten run featuring eight victories, with Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool side the only team to have stopped them from claiming a win in that run.
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Since being humbled by City at home, Shakhtar have responded well and rattled off three successive victories. A win against title rivals and second placed Dynamo Kiev on Saturday saw them extend their lead at the top to an imposing eight points and look well on course to make it a hat-trick of championship wins in Ukraine.
Here's how each team has performed in their last five fixtures:
Manchester City | Shakhtar Donetsk |
Manchester City 6-1 Southampton (04/11) | Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 Dynamo Kiev (03/11) |
Manchester City 2-0 Fulham (01/11) | Shakhtar Donetsk 3-2 Olimpik Donetsk (31/10) |
Tottenham 0-1 Manchester City (29/10) | Arsenal Kyiv 0-3 Shakhtar Donetsk (27/10) |
Shakhtar Donetsk 0-3 Manchester City (23/10) | Shakhtar Donetsk 0-3 Manchester City (23/10) |
Manchester City 5-0 Burnley (20/10) | Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0 Desna (19/10) |
Prediction
Manchester City delivered an emphatic statement, not only to their Premier League rivals but to everyone across Europe too, with a stunning 6-1 victory over Southampton.
Guardiola's side were imperious last season but have seemingly progressed even further, and it remains ominous that such performances and results have come with their midfield star Kevin De Bruyne out of action.
Shakhtar would have been extremely disappointed with their showing in the reverse fixture and will hope to make amends with a better performance here. However, with City firing on all cylinders, the Ukrainian side may be in for a very long night on Wednesday.
Prediction: Manchester City 4-1 Shakhtar Donetsk
