Manchester City vs Steaua Bucharest Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

Pep Guardiola didn’t waste any time in reinforcing his ability as a manager in the Champions League last week. Manchester City came into the game off the back of a hard fought and narrow victory at Sunderland that cast doubt over their potential, but David Silva put the visitors ahead within 15 minutes after Sergio Aguero had already missed a penalty. Under ten minutes later Aguero missed a second penalty of the night, but he made amends when he scored a second goal for Man City just before the break. New signing Nolito added another five minutes after the restart, and Aguero went on to notch another two goals to give Manchester City a huge lead in the playoffs.

Manchester City followed this emphatic Champions League victory up with a 4-1 thrashing of Stoke on Saturday, with Aguero adding another two to his already sizeable goals tally. One of them was a penalty as well, so he can score from the spot!

It will be interesting to see what sort of team Guardiola fields for this one. He will be in two minds about whether to start the in-form Aguero now that they’re in such a commanding position, and it’s likely we could see a few of the younger faces coming in to try and impress the new boss.

Steaua Bucharest followed this humiliating defeat up with a 1-1 draw at home against Dinamo Bucharest, a result which leaves them one point adrift in the Romanian Liga I table after five games played.

Whatever team the Romanians send over it’s incredibly unlikely that they can overturn the deficit, so it looks like they’re destined for a season in the Europa League, rather than matching their Champions League group stage showing in the 2013/14 season.

Manchester City will be keen to build on their stomping away performance on Wednesday though. Whatever youngster plays, he will be keen to impress Guardiola in the hope of a more regular starting position, and one of those could be the lethal Kelechi Iheanacho. Whether he or Aguero starts up front, the Steaua Bucharest back line are in for a tough evening.

I think Manchester City can get another comfortable win out of this one, so I’m backing a Manchester City -2.0 Asian Handicap Win at 1.850 to go along with a 3-0 correct score prediction at 11/2.