Make or break for Atalanta
It is now Atalanta's turn to act as hosts when they welcome Manchester City to the Giuseppe Meazza during the Champions League's fourth round of games. City won the reverse fixture with 5-1 in front of an ecstatic home crowd so the Italians will definitely be out for blood but can they turn intention into action?
Atalanta
La Dea find themselves in a precarious situation following three straight defeats and will need to step it up if they are to even qualify for the Europa League through a third place finish.
Worrying warm up
Atalanta suffered their first league defeat in 9 outings against Cagliari this past weekend but should have, in all honesty, scored at least twice despite going a man down after 39 minutes.
An issue for the team hailing from Bergamo is that they are currently forced to play all CL games at the San Siro due to renovations at the Gewiss Stadium, which is obviously not a bad venue but it is despite it all not their real home ground.
Noticeable absence
To make matters worse, top-scorer Duvan Zapata is still injured and despite having Luis Muriel and Josip Illicic you can tell that a little something is missing at times, especially against better opposition.
Manchester City
The Citizens will have fond memories from the reverse fixture a fortnight ago when they absolutely obliterated Atalanta with 5-1 at the Etihad.
Great form
Guardiola's men have since then recorded two league victories and have, despite leaving it to the 86th minute against Southampton, looked very good indeed. The fact that they still win games despite poor performances is a testament to their strength.
Wrap it all up
A huge carrot on a stick is the fact that if City win this one, they will have practically wrapped up the group meaning that they can rest players in the remaining games which will take a huge strain off of them during the winter months.
The Mancs will obviously relish playing at the San Siro and will be looking to close out the group here.
Betting tip
Both teams are great going forward, but both have a tendency of conceding goals which is why i will be backing a Manchester City win and both teams to score at 23/20 with Bethard.
