Manchester City will host Feyenoord in a Champions League match at Etihad Stadium on Tuesday (Nov. 21) in a game that presents different ambitions for each team. Manchester City has already qualified for the knockout stages and seeks to win the game to finish as the group leader. Feyenoord is already eliminated from the competition, but the Dutch giants can still make it to Europa League if they win all their matches and Napoli loses all their remaining Champions League matches. Manchester City goes into the after beating Leicester 2-0 in Premier League over the weekend.

Feyenoord is going through a tumultuous period not only in Champions League but also in their domestic league. The Rotterdam club hasn't won any of its Champions League matches, and the club is winless in the last five Eredivisie matches. Feyernoord heads into the contest after being held to a 1-1 draw by the league newcomers, Venlo.

Talking points

  • Manchester City has won all their four group F matches with the Citizens scoring a minimum of two goals in each of their Champions League matches.
  • Five of the last six Champions League games Manchester City has played have realized at least a total of three goals.
  • Manchester City has recorded straight wins their last fourteen matches in all competitions. In the previous Champions League, the Citizens toiled to overcome Napoli with a 4-2 in Italy.
  • Feyenoord has suffered straight defeats in the last eleven Champions League. Besides, The Rotterdam team has lost both at half-time and full-time in five of their last six Champions League matches.
  • The last five Champions League matches that Feyenoord has played have yielded more than two goals each game. The previous Champions League match saw Feyenoord lose 3-1 at Shakhtar Donetsk.
  • The managers aren't new to each as both have been at Barcelona. Pep Guardiola played at Barcelona before launching his coaching career at the same club. Giovani van Bronkhorst joined the Spanish giants soon after Guardiola had taken up the role of managing Barcelona youth team.

Team news

The hosts will be without John Stones and Benjamin Mendy, who are both sidelined with injuries, but there's no alarm as Guardiola has a squad depth to deal with the struggling Dutch club.

Manchester City's captain is back in the squad after staying out of the team for an extended period. Given that Manchester City has already qualified for the next phase of the competition, Guardiola is expected to rotate his starting eleven.

The beneficiaries of the rotation at Manchester City could be Yaya Toure, Illkay Gundogan, Bernado Silva, and Danilo.

Nicolas Otamendi, who missed the weekend's success in Premier League at Leicester City due to domestic suspension, will be back on the squad for the European duties. Also, Pep Guardiola could give teenagers like Phil Foden and Brahim Diaz a chance to feature in the last two Champions League matches the way he had hinted.

Feyenoord will miss Jan-Arie van der Heijden, Eric Botteghin, and Sven Van Beek due to injuries.

Karim Elhamady, who accumulated two yellow cards after two consecutive Champions League matches, will stay out of the contest with a match ban.

Predictions

Despite already booking a place in the knockout stages of the competition, finishing top in the group is a priority for Manchester City. If the Citizens lose to Feyernoord and Shakhtar Donetsk beats Napoli, the Premier League club could be in the danger of losing the top spot to the Ukranian giants. The game presents to Manchester City an opportunity to finish top of the group and concentrate their efforts in Premier League where they're already surging ahead of other English giants.

Feyenoord can make it to Europa Cup if they win their remaining two matches at the expense of Napoli.

However, if Feyenoord loses to Manchester City and Napoli gets at least a point in the other match, Feyenoord will be just honoring the fixture in their final group match.

Full-time prediction: Manchester City 4-1 Feyenoord
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