Sports Blog 30/09/2015: Match Preview – UEFA Champions League, Wednesday 30th September 2015

After another dismal evening for English teams in Europe, with losses for both Arsenal and Chelsea, Manchester takes on Germany in Wednesday’s Champions League games!

First up sees the red half of the city take on last year’s Bundesliga runners-up, as Manchester United host Wolfsburg at 7.45pm on BT Sport Europe. The German side have had to deal with the loss of Kevin De Bruyne over the summer, with the German Footballer of the year integral to both Wolfburg’s best league finish since they won the title in 2008/09 and their DFB-Pokal victory over Borussia Dortmund. So far they haven’t done too badly; wins over Eintracht Frankfurt, Schalke and Hertha Berlin joined by draws against FC Koln, Ingolstadt and, most recently, Hannover 96 in the Bundesliga is a respectable record, one only besmirched by their 5-1 thrashing after a 9 minute goal explosion from Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski.

They also managed to win their opening game in Europe, with a single goal from summer signing Julian Draxler enough to beat CSKA Moscow. Despite the loss of De Bruyne, the additions of Draxler and Borussia Monchengladbach’s Max Kruse have bolstered an already strong front line, led by former Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner and last season’s top scorer Bas Dost, who has already got 5 in Wolfsburg’s first 7 league games. Both sit at 17/2 to score first on Wednesday evening, with identical Super Mega PGM spreads of 13-17.



Unlike Wolfsburg, Manchester United slumped to a 2-1 defeat to Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven in their first Champions League game a fortnight ago, with an opener from Memphis Depay on his return to the Philips Stadion cancelled out by goals from Hector Moreno and Luciano Narsingh. It was a frustrating result for Louis van Gaal’s side but one emblematic of the struggles seen by the competition’s English sides in general, with 5 losses in 6 Champions League games already this season.

United’s league form, on the other hand, has gone from strength to strength, and they now sit top of the table just ahead of their Manchester rivals. An uninspiring start to the season, with dull wins over Tottenham and Aston Villa, a snore draw against Newcastle and a dismal away loss to Swansea seems to have been turned around by the arrival of the young Anthony Martial, who appears to be trying to provide a week by week rebuttal to those who claimed he was an over-priced panic buy. The former Monaco man managed to score 3 goals in his first 2 games against Liverpool and Southampton, before producing instrumental support in last weekend’s 3-0 victory over Sunderland, and is joint favourite to score first on Wednesday (alongside his captain Wayne Rooney) at 9/2 fixed odds, with a Super Mega PGM of 28-34.

A De Bruyne-less Wolfsburg perhaps aren’t the force they were last season and that fact, combined with the renewed vigour United have found since Martial arrived, has led our Spreadex traders to offer a Manchester United/Wolfsburg Goal Supremacy spread of 0.75-0.95 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.65-2.85.

The blue side of the city then travels to Germany itself, as Manchester City take on Borussia Monchengladbach at 7.45pm BT Sport 2. After finishing 3rd last season, Monchengladbach have got off to an awful start in the league, losing their first 5 games in a row against Dortmund, Mainz, Werder Bremen, Hamburger and Koln, before finally stalling this run with emphatic victories over Augsburg and Stuttgart. Things didn’t go so well in their Champions League debut either, as the German side lost to Europa League champions Sevilla 3-0 after conceding 2 penalties in the second half.

Part of Monchengladbach’s problem so far this year has been the lack of a consistent source for goals; the club’s big summer signing was Josip Drmic, brought in from Bayer Leverkusen to replace the Wolfsburg-bound Max Kruse, who hasn’t made much of an impact since the start of the season. Despite this, however, he sits at a healthy Super Mega PGM of 19-23, and at 15/2 to score first. Better than Drmic has been Lars Stindl, also at 15/2 to score first with a Super Mega PGM of 16-20, who joined from Hannover over the summer; although ostensibly a centre midfielder, Stindl is the only thing approaching a regular goal scorer for Monchengladbach at the moment, getting 2 in the league and 2 in the club’s 4-1 DFB-Pokal victory over St Pauli.



In comparison Manchester City’s season couldn’t have gotten off to a better beginning; they won their first 5 league games without conceding a single goal, a stark contrast to the stuttering starts of United, Arsenal and, especially, Chelsea. However, City’s 2-1 defeat to Juventus in their first Champions League game, with a Chiellini own goal negated by Mario Mandzukic before a late strike from Alvaro Morata saw the Italian side steal all three points, appears to have shaken the Manchester club’s confidence. They followed up this loss with league defeats to West Ham at home and Tottenham away, only a 4-1 League Cup workout against Sunderland separating the losses.

The one real positive from this run has been the fact that Kevin De Bruyne has hit the ground running, with the Belgian scoring in both league defeats and that victory over Sunderland. Whilst his fantastic start has been overshadowed by City’s drop in form, it is a silver lining that De Bruyne has managed to shine despite Pellegrini’s side not being at their best. He goes into Wednesday’s game at a Super Mega PGM spread of 20-24, joined by Sergio Aguero, who has only found the net twice this season, at a Super Mega PGM of 40-47.

Group D is arguably the toughest in the competition, with 4 time Europa League record holders Sevilla and last year’s runners-up Juventus joining City and Gladbach. It means that, after their opening losses, both teams already need a win at this early stage; the potential force of De Bruyne, Silva, Sterling and Aguero likely gives the Manc side the advantage, however, and our traders are offering a Manchester City/Borussia Monchengladbach Goal Supremacy spread of 0.4-0.6 with a Total Goals spread of 2.85-3.05.