Slovan Bratislava vs Manchester City: Betting tips and analysis

Two years on from being crowned champions of Europe for the first time, Manchester City look to pickup their first win in this season's iteration after a 0-0 stalemate versus Inter Milan on matchday one.

Can they roll over an unfancied Slovan Bratislava side who are coming off a 5-1 whooping at the hands of Celtic? Odds Now's Brad Walker runs you through all of the key details.

Tale of the tape

Slovan Bratislava

After securing a fifth Super Liga title in six seasons last term, Slovakia champions Slovan Bratislava have got off to a solid start on the domestic front this time around.

Vladimír Weiss' side have won seven and drawn one of their first eight league matches, but weren't quite as convincing in their last continental appearance.

Weiss' men initially secured a place in the Champions League 'proper' through the qualifying stages, yet suffered a 5-1 hammering away at Scottish champions Celtic on matchday one.

The Slovakian club managed just two shots on target across the 90 minutes at Celtic Park.

Manchester City

English champions City surprisingly dropped points for a second league game running at the weekend.

Pep Guardiola's men initially took the lead against Newcastle through Josko Gvardiol, before a controversial Anthony Gordon penalty levelled the score in front of a raucous St James' Park crowd. The result followed a frenetic 2-2 draw with Arsenal at the Etihad a week prior.

City also dominated in their first Champions League appearance of the season, which also ended in a draw, this time 0-0 at home to Inter Milan two weeks ago.

The hosts retained 60% of possession against the reigning Serie A champions, yet managed just five shots on target across the 90 minutes.

Guardiola will have been frustrated by recent results against Inter Milan and Newcastle. (Photo credit: Alamy Images)

Slovan Bratislava vs Manchester City: Betting tips and predictions

Surprise surprise, the visitors enter overwhelming favourites ahead of kick-off at the Tehelné pole. City are available at a measly best price of 1/16 on the winner's market at the time of writing.

There's also not much value on the goals lines, with many tipping a comfortable away victory in Bratislava.

I'm therefore going to go down the cards route when putting up a best bet for this game, and particularly fancy Slovan right-back Cesar Blackman to get his name in the book before the 90 minutes are up.

The Panamanian has started seven of his side's eight matches in the competition this season, as well as Slovan's 4-2 away victory at Michalovce at the weekend.

While the 26-year-old was only booked in one of those matches, it's fair to say he will be facing a significant step-up in opposition come kick-off on Tuesday evening.

Jeremy Doku, Jack Grealish and Phil Foden are among the names who he could be facing down City's left-hand side - some of the best wide players across the continent.

All three are renowned for their dribbling ability and will likely receive a wealth of the ball as a result of the hosts packing out the centre of the park with hopes of denying City a route to goal.

At 6/1, there's plenty of value at backing the full-back to be shown a card in what should, in reality, be a comfortable City victory.

Odds Now’s best bets for Slovan Bratislava vs Manchester City