Man City v Dynamo Kiev

There could be a nail-biter in store at Eastlands tonight with Man City desperately trying to overhaul a two goal deficit against Dynamo Kiev. Mancini’s troops have routinely shown they are hard to beat this season but a situation where they are required to score three goals to progress could be beyond them. At many times this season they have looked pedestrian when at 0-0 or 1-0 up and that simply won’t do on this occasion. So do they have it in them to go for the jugular?

Where there is Carlos Tevez, there is hope. He is 7/2 with SkyBet to open the scoring after 21 goals in 28 appearances this campaign. He still looks like the thoroughbred in Mancini’s ranks, even with the big money arrivals of Dzeko and Balotelli. This could be a time for the manager to play them all together, but how much will he have one eye on the big Chelsea game in the league on Sunday? Tonight’s match comes too soon for Adam Johnson who is close to a return from injury and City will continue to miss his creativity.

Kiev will not be aided by the absence of top scorer Artem Milevskiy, who broke his hand on Sunday, but can still call on the services of Shevchenko who scored in the first leg. It’s hard to imagine the Ukranians playing with any adventure while they still have a lead to protect though. With that in mind I think it comes down to the cutting edge of Man City; recent evidence suggests they may be lacking something in that department still. I’ll go for a nerve-jangling 1-0 for Man City on the night that wouldn’t be quite enough to keep them in Europe. That result is a best price of of 7/1 with PaddyPower.