Steaua Bucharest v Manchester City Betting Tips and Offers

Steaua Bucharest v Manchester City Tips and Betting Offers, Tuesday 16th August 2016, Arena Naţională, Kick off: 19:45

Manchester City need to negotiate a tie with Steaua Bucharest if they’re to make the Champions League group stages. Pep Guardiola will want nothing less than a humiliating drop in to the Europa League, but luckily for him the Premier League side are heavy favourites. They’re expected to qualify with ease, but could the quick turnaround between their league opener and this clash cause them some problems here?

Coral make City 1/2 to come back from Romania with a victory, that would put them in complete control of this tie. Steaua should be more prepared, given their Champions League run, but is that enough? The Citizens will have been put through their paces by Pep Guardiola, but they’ll still be getting used to his tactics. There’s little hope for an upset here, with the hosts 6/1 outsiders with Betfair. The draw is big odds too, at 16/5.

So, just where is the value on this game? Obviously a City win is expected, but it’s not worthwhile at the short price given. Guardiola’s men will be looking to ease in to the group stage, and they’d like to do it with a win here. Any kind of victory in Romania basically ends this tie, as we can’t see Steaua turning up and winning at the Etihad. Overall, it does seem like the most straightforward of ties for City.

The most useful thing about this game is the exercise in tactics. It’s a more relaxed chance for City to get used to Guardiola’s approach, but they’re playing a side who are taking things seriously. The idea for the Citizens will be to press the ball, and to be smart in possession. You’d think they’d be able to dominate the ball and the game against a team like Steaua.

The new City boss prizes defensive solidity quite a bit, and he sees keeping the ball as a way to achieving that. We can see City being in such control here that Steaua fail to make any kind of attacking impact. That’s why we’re going for an away win to nil as our main tip at 29/20 with BetVictor.

We’re also backing a comfortable win for City. They’ve not been scoring too many in preseason, their forward line has yet to click with the new approach. We see them getting a couple here and a clean sheet. For us, a 2-0 scoreline seems about right. That’s enough for City to feel like they’re safely through. That’s priced at 7/1 with 888Sport, which is certainly worth a punt at those odds.