Preview: Manchester City vs Galatasaray - prediction, team news, lineups

Manchester City will fight for their place in the top eight of the Champions League when they welcome Galatasaray to the Etihad Stadium for the final league phase fixture on Wednesday.

The hosts are 11th in the standings and only outside the top eight on goal difference, while the visitors are 17th in the table with a three point gap to the top eight and two point lead over 25th.

Match preview

After a difficult time in the league phase of the Champions League last season, narrowly securing their place in top 24 as they placed 22nd in the table, Manchester City would have been aiming for a significantly stronger showing this term.

Pep Guardiola's side certainly made a more assured start to the league phase this campaign, winning three and drawing one of their opening four matches, including impressive victories over Napoli (2-0) and Borussia Dortmund (4-1). 

Although they fell to a lacklustre 2-0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen on matchday five, the Citizens immediately bounced back by winning their next three games, beating Leeds United, Fulham and Sunderland in the Premier League. 

The Citizens managed to maintain that momentum when they faced Real Madrid on matchday six of the league phase, with Erling Haaland and Nico O'Reilly each scoring in a 2-1 victory - marking the fourth win in a superb run of 10 victories and three draws in 13 matches. 

However, their unbeaten run eventually came to a crushing end as they lost 2-0 to Manchester United, and they failed to produce a response as the Citizens lost 3-1 to Bodo/Glimt in the Champions League, a defeat that saw Man City fall to 11th in the league phase table. 

The Citizens now sit outside the top eight on goal difference, level on eight teams on 13 points, meaning a win over Galatasaray and other results going their way will be required to avoid the play-offs.

Manchester City will be the favourites to claim all three points, but Galatasaray will aim to record a surprise victory and end the league phase on a positive note. 

While Gala could still secure a place in the top eight, currently three points adrift, they would require several factors to perfectly align, while their attention will almost certainly be on ensuring they make the knockout rounds.

Galatasaray hold a two-point lead over 25th and 26th-placed Napoli and Copenhagen, as well as a three point lead over several other knockout hopefuls, meaning they could still be eliminated on the final day. 

However, several results would have to go against them as well as suffering a significant loss, while a result against Manchester City would certainly secure their place in the knockout rounds. 

Although they are the underdogs, Galatasaray have shown their quality at times in the Champions League this term, including a wonderful 1-0 win over Liverpool and a 3-1 victory against Bodo/Glimt - who defeated Manchester City last time out in the Champions League. 

Manchester City Champions League form:

Manchester City form (all competitions):

Galatasaray Champions League form:

Galatasaray form (all competitions):

Team News

Manchester City will be without John Stones, Nico Gonzalez, Oscar Bobb, Ruben Dias, Savinho, Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol due to injury issues, while Rodri is also unavailable due to suspension. 

Erling Haaland and Phil Foden dropped out of the starting 11 in the win against Wolverhampton Wanderers at the weekend, but both are expected to come back into the team in this one.

Meanwhile, Galatasaray will be unable to call upon Enes Buyuk, Wilfried Singo, Arda Unyay and Metehan Baltaci due to injury and suspension.

Victor Osimhen has scored six goals in five Champions League games this term, and the striker should lead the line ahead of Leroy Sane, Ilkay Gundogan and Baris Alper Yilmaz.

Manchester City possible starting lineup:

Donnarumma; Nunes, Khusanov, Ake, O'Reilly; Cherki, Foden, Lewis, Silva, Doku; Haaland

Galatasaray possible starting lineup:

Cakir; Sallai, Bardakci, Sanchez, Jakobs; Lemina, Torreira; Sane, Gundogan, Yilmaz; Osimhen

We say: Manchester City 3-1 Galatasaray

Manchester City are certainly the favourites to claim all three points, especially after the confidence-boosting win against Wolves at the weekend, leading us to expect a home win over Galatasaray.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.