Manchester City welcome visiting Sevilla to the Etihad in Group D of the Champions League on Wednesday night looking to build on their comeback win over Borussia Monchengladbach on matchday two.
Sevilla currently share the same number of points as City and the Spanish club will be aiming to cause an upset when they travel to Manchester.
Manchester City
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City did not enjoy the best of starts in the competition after surrendering a one-goal lead on the way to being beaten 2-1 at home by a resurgent Juventus side.
Things did not appear to be going too well in the club's next game away at Monchengladbach, but for a late fightback that saw Nicolas Otamendi and Sergio Aguero score late to hand the Sky Blues a vital 2-1 victory.
City will know that picking up home points will be pivotal in this group if they want to gain progression come the end of the winter, although they will be without Aguero for a number of games after a troublesome hamstring injury.
The club's fans already know that the Argentine striker will be crucial to their success on both the domestic and European fronts, yet City proved over the weekend against Bournemouth that they still have more than enough to trouble defences without him.
What will have been particularly pleasing for Manuel Pellegrini is the growing connection displayed between Raheem Sterling and stand-in striker Wilfried Bony, as both players linked up well to push Sterling to a hat-trick against Eddie Howe's side on Saturday.
City still have to partake in a tricky away visit to Juventus and will also have to play in Spain, meaning that three points on Wednesday could be crucial to their hopes of obtaining a place in the knockout stages.
Recent form (all competitions): LLWWWW
Sevilla
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The Spanish side began their group campaign in a positive fashion when they put visiting Borussia to the sword to claim a 3-0 win as part of matchday one.
Next up was a trip away to Juventus, where Sevilla came unstuck to goals conceded in both the first and second halves in Turin.
The Spaniards will be confident of picking up six points against Gladbach over two games, but if they are to have any hope of qualifying they will need to take points off either Juve or City this winter.
Unai Emery will know that the possibility of defeating City is arguably more likely when they take the trip to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium next month, but he will still be hoping that his side can steal a point when visiting Manchester.
Following a rather disastrous start to the new La Liga campaign that saw them winless in five, Los Rojiblancos have now put together some good results domestically and have claimed two wins from their last three in the league.
One of those victories came at home to high-flying Barcelona and that 2-1 result just goes to show the damage that Sevilla can cause when they are running at full-throttle.
Recent form (all competitions): LLWLWD
Team News
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Pellegrini will have been impressed with Sterling and Bony's link-up play at the weekend, and those two are likely to form part of City's attack on Wednesday night.
Samir Nasri, however, suffered a hamstring problem against Bournemouth and will be on the sidelines with Aguero and David Silva.
Skipper Vincent Kompany was rested on the bench at the weekend and he could well return to the starting XI at the expense of either Otamendi or Eliaquim Mangala.
Kevin De Bruyne has so far proved very effective for the Premier League leaders and he will likely keep his place in an advanced midfield position.
As for the visitors, they will leave things late to decide whether key striker Fernando Llorente can compete. Luismi is also facing a late battle to prove his fitness for the Spaniards.
Sevilla are already without Gael Kakuta, Sergio Escudero and Daniel Carrico, who will all be absent through injury.
Manchester City possible starting lineup:
Hart; Zabaleta, Kompany, Mangala, Sagna; Fernandinho, Toure; Navas, De Bruyne, Sterling; Bony
Sevilla possible starting lineup:
Rico; Tremoulinas; Rami, Kolodzieczak, Coke; Krychowiak, Iborra, Reyes, N'Zonzi, Vitolo; Gameiro
Head To Head
This is the first time that these two sides are to meet each other in a competitive match, giving the players on Wednesday night the opportunity to write some new history into the Champions League record books.
We say: Manchester City 2-1 Sevilla
Aguero has been a key player in City's Champions League exploits over the last few years and they will have to do without a player that scored six of their 10 goals in the competition last season. Saturday's win over Bournemouth showed that the club has the ammunition to find goals without him, however, and Wednesday's hosts will be keen to pick up some vital points before heading straight over to Spain in their next European fixture in November.
Christopher Dodd
