THE Champions League returns on Tuesday as Basel welcome Manchester City from Switzerland. Dan McCulloch (@danmcc84) shares his best bet.
Basel v Manchester City | Tuesday 13th February 2018, 19:45 | BT Sport
Such has been Manchester City’s level of performance this season that the bookies see qualification from this tie as little more than a formality.
The Citizens are a best price of 1/10 to get through to the last-eight and its hard to put up much of a case for their Swiss opponents troubling them over two legs.
I can, however, see Basel scoring at St Jakob-Park on Tuesday evening. They found the net in each of their group stage games, including a 1-0 victory over Manchester United. Moreover, despite not managing to win a single game in last season’s last Champions League, they also scored in each of those games, two of which came against Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain.
Manchester City’s attacking prowess needs little explanation, but given that they have scored in 39 of their 41 games this season – Wolves and Crystal Palace are the only sides they were unable to score against – you have to believe that they will do so again when facing relatively moderate opposition (at this level).
Whilst it is unfair to say that Manchester City have been suspect defensively recently, you do feel like they will always give their opponents a couple of decent opportunities and they have conceded in eight of their last 10 matches, with only Cardiff and West Brom failing to breach their rearguard.
I believe that Basel will pose a greater attacking threat than either of those sides offered and given that they also conceded in two of their three group stage games, I believe that the 10/11 William Hill offer on both sides finding the net is a fair price.
2-1 and 3-1 always seem like good value correct score bets where Manchester City are concerned but I will see what the exchange is offering come kick-off rather than suggest them as an outright tip. It’s a fairly mundane recommendation, but I think the stats point to both sides finding time to score on the Rhine!
Best Bets
Basel v Manchester City – Both Teams To Score (10/11 William Hill)
TOPICS Champions League Tips Premier League Tips
