fixture at the weekend and will be intent on showing last season’s winners of this tournament exactly how strong they are at home. They have won all 12 of their home matches in the Premier League this season, however they have suffered home defeats to Liverpool in the Carling Cup and Manchester United in the FA Cup, showing that they aren’t exactly invincible.
Porto will take belief from these results and will be determined to provide their own cup upset here and turn around what seems an unassailable lead (Porto 5/1 to beat Manchester City). Porto are currently second in the Portuguese top flight, two points behind Benfica and have only lost once all season. They are on a run of seven wins in their last nine league games and will be hoping they can take the confidence from these results into the Etihad Stadium. They have not lost a two-legged tie in the Europa League since 2001 and after last season’s quadruple success they will be no strangers to adversity, however, the Premier League’s leaders are arguably one of the strongest sides they have faced in recent seasons.
Both sides have been involved in high scoring games this season and enjoy playing free-flowing attacking football so expect goals, especially with Porto having to come out and attack Manchester City, which is sure to leave spaces for players such as David Silva and Sergio Aguero to exploit. 68% of Porto’s league games have had over 2.5 goals, whilst 83% of Manchester City’s home games in the Premier League have had three or more goals (5/6 over 2.5 goals).
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Manchester City have no fresh injury concerns to worry about and it will be interesting to see whether Roberto Mancini decides to put out a full strength side given their lead and their Premier League duties at the weekend. Whatever side Mancini does decide to put out it will inevitably be a strong one, given the talent at his disposal. Porto Full-back Alvaro Pereira is suspended and Danilo is also likely to miss the match. Nicolas Otamendi will give the away side a boost with his return and Hulk should replace Marc Janko up front, due to his ineligibility.
