Champions League: Slovan Bratislava v Man City preview & tips

Ladbrokes shares its preview, betting tips and predictions for Slovan Bratislava v Man City on Tuesday evening in the Champions League.

Man City, the latest English club to win Champions League and one of the favourites to win this year's competition, after still waiting for their first win in Europe this season after being held to a 0-0 draw at home against Inter Milan two weeks ago.

The season started badly for Slovan Bratislava too, with the Slovakian side losing 5-1 in Scotland to Celtic, and they'll have to play the game of their lives to beat Man City this week.

So, without further ado, join Ladbrokes as our team of experts share their preview, betting tips and predictions for the big Slovan Bratislava v Man City game in the Champions League.

Man City started the season very well, but Pep Guardiola's side have actually failed to win their three games of their last four games, being held to draws by Inter Milan, Arsenal and most recently Newcastle in the Premier League.

Their only win in their last four has come in the Carabao Cup to Watford, and the feeling is that Slovan Bratislava will fall victim to a City side who will be eager to make a statement for those that still doubt them.

It'd be a big win for City too, as in the new 'league phase' of the Champions League, they're only one point, and will be eager to make sure their tally is on four come the end of matchday two.

Slovan Bratislava, the reigning Slovakian champions, are second bottom of the new Champions League group phase heading into gameweek one, and very few fans think they'll be picking up even a single point against City on October 1.

In some more positive news though, Bratislava have won seven of their opening eight league games, and are in good domestic form, but you simply can't compare the teams that they're coming up against in Slovakia to the reigning Premier League Champions.

The bookies, unsurprisingly, have City as the clear and undisputed favourites to win the game on October 1. In fact, the latest odds have the probability of City losing at less than 2%.

Rodri will obviously be missing for City in the UCL for not only this game against Slovan Bratislava, but for the remainder of the 2024/25 campaign after the club confirmed last week that he's ruptured his ACL.

The Spanish midfielder joins Nathan Ake and Oscar Bobb in the medical room, with Kevin De Bruyne also expected to miss out through injury.

Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku are expected to come into the starting 11 after being left out of the game against Newcastle, with John Stones also in line to start after coming off the bench against the Geordies rather than being picked to start from the off.

Some thought they'd rest on the weekend in their domestic league game, but Slovan actually went for a full strength 11, so they could opt to leave out some starters for this one against City.

Kenan Bajric did miss the game on the weekend though with an injury, and it remains to be seen whether he's fit enough to feature against the English side. Luakas Pauschek will definitely miss the game though, which will be a huge blow to the club and the player.

Possible starting line-ups:

Slovan Bratislava - Takac; Blackman, Bajric, Wimmer, Medvedev; Kucka, Ignatenko, Tolic; Barseghyan, Strelec, Weiss

Man City - Ederson: Walker, Stones, Akanji, Gvardiol; Gundogan, Foden, Nunes; Doku, Haaland, Savinho

As we explained in our Champions League 24/25 accumulator for matchday two, while we've all learned to expect the unexpected in football, we simply can't see anything other than a City win being the outcome for the game in Slovakia.

So, for our first tip, we're going to go one further and say that the game sees four or more goals scored (the majority of those likely scored by the English side) with City winning the game after 90 minutes.

Again, after failing to score against Newcastle, it seems just too obvious to pick Erling Haaland to score against Slovan Bratislava, so we're actually going to go for his teammate Phil Foden for our second tip.

Foden has struggled for minutes so far, with Guardiola not deeming him fit enough to feature in the league. So, with their UCL opposition on the weaker side, we expect Foden to start from the off, and we're predicting he repays the favour by scoring.

That's not all though, as for our final tip, we're predicting that Slovan Bratislava don't score against City at home on October 1, unlike when they found the back of the net with a consolation goal in their 5-1 loss to Celtic two weeks ago.

City are without Rodri, which undoubtedly makes them weaker, but their quality side should still have enough to prevent the Slovakian side from finding the back of the net, which is why we're predicting that they'll keep a clean sheet.

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All odds and markets are correct as of the date of publication.