The Citizens played in the Champions League this week. Josep Guardiola’s team dealt with Olympiacos without any problems. This time there was no defeat, but a modest 1:0 ensured the Mancunians a ticket to the playoffs. They have won four games in a row in the European competition and can focus on internal problems. In the Premier League Manchester City continues to fever. One of the main favorites of the championship from round to round only reduces their chances of a champion title. In the last four rounds the “townspeople” have beaten only the modest “Sheffield United”, which is one of the championship outsiders. They won modestly 1:0. In other matches during this period Manchester City failed to emerge victorious in the confrontations with West Ham (1:1) and Liverpool (1:1), whereas Tottenham lost 0:2 at all. After losing a number of important points Guardiola’s charges dropped to 13th place in the standings. They played one match less than the leaders Tottenham and Liverpool, but they were already eight points behind. This is the worst start for Manchester City in 12 years. At home the Mankunians are not impressive either. In addition to a draw with Liverpool (1:1), they modestly beat Arsenal (1:0), but they flew shamefully to Leicester (2:5). In general, the performance leaves much to be desired. Manchester City have not scored more than one goal in their last six league games. Perhaps the low performance was due to a series of injuries that befell the team. Now the squad is in complete order. Only defender Nathan Ake is in the infirmary.
At the end of the last season Rennes managed to get bronze medals, which brought the team a ticket to the Champions League. After four rounds of the group stage, the “red-blacks” close the standings together with “Krasnodar”, while still having a chance to compete for an entry into the Europa League. For 11 rounds of the current League 1 tournament, Julien Stefan’s wards have recorded five victories and shared points with opponents three times. Following their home success in the game against Brest (2:1), guests lost twice. Martin and Rugani will not be able to take part in this game.
