Dynamo Kiev v Man City: Citizens to stop the rot in Ukraine
Published:
Manchester City caught a lot of flak for fielding a weakened team in their recent FA Cup clash with Chelsea and will have been for nothing if they don’t get a positive result in Kiev this week.
Fortunately for the Citizens history suggests they will get exactly that, with Dynamo having struggled against English opposition in the past.
In their past 14 Champions League meetings with Premier League sides Dynamo have won just two, drawing three and losing nine.
Their last victory over an English side was a 2-1 win over Arsenal back in 2003 and they have come up short against the Gunners, Manchester United and Chelsea since that win.
This history goes some way to explaining why Kiev, the form team going into this tie, are billed as the 9/4 outsiders, with the draw on at 23/10 and City priced up at 6/5.
The sides last met in 2011 with Kiev winning the home leg 2-0 but with Manuel Pellegrini clearly putting all his eggs in the European basket there is plenty to suggest City will come out all guns blazing at the NSC Olimpiyskiy.
One man who could make the difference for the away side is Raheem Sterling. While Sergio Aguero may be the main man in the Sky Blues’ attack the Englishman is their top scorer in the competition so far, having netted three times in Europe this season.
The former Liverpool man can be backed at 15/2 to score the opening goal of the game or 11/4 to find the back at anytime.
The latter price could prove the value pick with Kiev’s Andriy Yarmolenko proving a dab hand a firing first.
The Ukraine international has opened the scoring in three of Kiev’s Champions League outings already this seas and at 11/2 to open the scoring again here.
However, while Yarmolenko looks likely to get his side on the score board the stats point towards an away win, making the 9/2 on a City win and a Sterling goal arguably the bet of the night.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
