MY ACCOUNT
– Leeds involved in some high-scoring games but home form is a concern
– Manchester City beat Liverpool 3-2 last week in Carabao Cup
– Recommended bet: Manchester City and over 3.5 goals
Manchester City returned from the international break with a promising performance and a 3-2 victory over Liverpool in the Carabao Cup but now attention turns to their Premier League title challenge.
Pep Guardiola will have been pleased to progress in the cup but will be just as grateful to shake off the rust as he looks to sharpen his side for an even greater challenge.
Reeling in Arsenal, who are eight points better off, is going to take some doing and the Citizens’ first match back is a potentially tricky encounter.
A trip to Elland Road to face hard-pressing Leeds will be no gentle restart, with Jesse Marsch’s gung-ho approach bringing plenty of thrills and delivering a couple of big scalps along the way, with both Chelsea and Liverpool falling to his high-energy team already this season.
Team news
Leeds manager Marsch has a long list of injury concerns, with up to 11 players potentially unavailable.
Midfielder Tyler Adams is suspended, Stuart Dallas is recovering from surgery and Luis Sinisterra and Archie Gray are also confirmed absentees.
Goalkeeper Illan Meslier and midfielder Mateusz Klich have both been ill but could recover in time, while Jack Harrison, Liam Cooper, Crysencio Summerville and Rodrigo will all face late fitness tests after missing training in recent days.
Striker Patrick Bamford has an outside chance of returning from a groin injury but is a significant doubt.
Manchester City’s World Cup winner Julian Alvarez has yet to return to the club, while defender Ruben Dias picked up a hamstring injury in Qatar that may rule him out for a few weeks.
Midfielder Kalvin Phillips will not get the chance to feature against his former club as he has fallen out of favour with Guardiola.
The stats
Leeds stunned Manchester City upon their return to the top flight in 2020-21, holding the Citizens to a 1-1 draw at Elland Road before winning 2-1 at the Etihad despite playing the entire second half with 10 men.
However, Guardiola got his revenge in emphatic fashion last term, winning 7-0 on home soil before an easy 4-0 victory at Leeds.
Five of the Whites’ 14 Premier League games this season have seen over 3.5 goals and only Tottenham and Manchester City’s matches have seen more goals per game in the top flight.
Exactly half of City’s matches have seen four goals or more.
Prediction
Manchester City have work to do to catch up with Arsenal but are in decent shape given the lack of injuries and the fact that Alvarez was the only squad player to feature in the final week of the World Cup.
Most of Guardiola’s key men have had plenty of time back in training with City over the past couple of weeks, with Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan departing Qatar at the group stage almost a month ago and Erling Haaland and Riyad Mahrez both missing out altogether.
Those players will be raring to go and it is telling that Haaland and Mahrez both scored against Liverpool last week, while De Bruyne laid on two assists.
Leeds are a dangerous side who have beaten Chelsea and Liverpool this season and gave Tottenham a real fright in a 4-3 defeat just before the World Cup break.
However, given their injury problems, it is hard to see United upsetting a City side who have a clear advantage in quality and got to blow away the cobwebs in last week’s victory over Liverpool.
Leeds conceded three goals in both of their last two Elland Road outings — still beating Bournemouth but losing 3-2 to Fulham — and in three home games prior to that had lost to Arsenal and failed to beat struggling Aston Villa and Everton.
Guardiola’s team is a step up in class from most of those opponents, so back Manchester City and over 3.5 goals at 11/8 with LiveScore Bet.
