On Wednesday, October 1st, Monaco will play against Manchester City in the Champions League. The Monégasques started the Champions League with a disaster in Bruges, suffering an unexpected thrashing. Manchester City is in excellent form having not lost in top matches.

Monaco is in a very difficult situation from a sporting perspective. In six rounds of Ligue 1, the club has not failed, but the dynamics are certainly negative. Under the guidance of Adi Hütter, they first lost to Bruges in the Champions League, conceding four goals, and then were battered by Lorient. The quick sending off of defender Thilo Kehrer had a significant impact on the Ligue 1 match. The team played the entire second half with ten men.

Monaco has been involved in very high-scoring matches this season – only in one match did the bet on goals exchanged fail. Moreover, the average scoring rate is abnormal. For instance, in the five previous matches across all tournaments, the goal difference was 10:12. This means the club concedes more than two per match – there are concerns about the defence.

In the case of Monaco, attention should be paid to the injuries. There is quite a delegation: Akliush, Bamba, Golovin, Gradićki, Mishal, and Zakaria. Paul Pogba still hasn’t managed to get into shape. The star newcomer is not injured, but he hasn’t made the matchday squad.

Manchester City, on the contrary, is improving. The club is in high spirits. In the Champions League, they handled Napoli, and in the league, they smashed Burnley 5:1, plus they had a quality match against Arsenal last week. A draw is a respectable result for the rebuilding City. It's important that the "Citizens" have returned to the title race in the Premier League, and Guardiola has no major issues with the squad.

Let’s also note the insane scoring ability of Erling Haaland. The Norwegian has scored eight goals in the Premier League and found the net in the Champions League as well. Haaland travels to Monaco after completing a hat-trick against Burnley.

City is likely to have some squad rotation. After all, the team is playing in a very demanding schedule.

Bookmakers are offering 1.50 on Manchester City away – this is quite objective. One could even say that Monaco is being overvalued. The club is in very poor condition: a large number of injuries, colossal problems in defence, and minimal impact from newcomers. In France, there are discussions about a potential change of coach. So far, the start of the season has been very disappointing.

It’s logically assumed that the favourite will win by a large margin. City could easily win in a very high-scoring match. The basic total here is only three goals – it is possible that adjustments will be made on the day of the game. Haaland is unlikely to get a rest – Guardiola will field him from the start. Erling is in excellent form, and no one in Monaco can effectively stop him.