Game Week 30 Predictions: Straight win City against Leicester

Man City hosts Leicester in a must-win clash for UCL hopes. With Haaland out, can Guardiola’s side step up, or will Leicester find a late-season spark

Manchester City is expected to beat Leicester City, but how much does that help their disappointing season? (Photo credit: (Photo credit: BBC)

Manchester City vs Leicester City

Etihad Stadium

7:30pm

After Nottingham Forest clinically took Manchester United out on Tuesday night at the City Ground, it has become imperative for the Cityzens to win or lose ground in the race for Champions League football.

Nine points separate the Champions in fifth and Forest in third, and with fifth place quite likely to grant Champions League football next season, Pep Guardiola’s side must safeguard what they have with the likes of Newcastle, Aston Villa and Brighton all perching around them.

For Leicester City, it’s almost too late to hope, dream or fantasise; relegation looks to be their fate, and Ruud Van Nistelrooy must understand that from here on, except something miraculous happens, they will be playing in the Championship League next season.

Wolves created more daylight between them and the drop zone on Tuesday night as they dispatched West Ham at the Molineux 1-0 to extend their safety cushion to twelve points, and for the Foxes, who can’t even buy a win, where will the points come from?

You look at Manchester City and how fragile they have become recently; you wonder if there’s something there to exploit by the Foxes, but you can’t remember the last time Van Nistelrooy’s side won a game, so you ask again, where will the points come from?

The Cityzens laboured past Bournemouth in the FA Cup at the weekend, booking their place in the competition where they will play against high-flying Nottingham Forest. The FA Cup represents the only hope of silverware for the champions this season; will they find joy there?

You have that sense that pre-season has started early for the likes of Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton; the final nine games of the league season would be more of them perfecting tactics for next season. They can as well enjoy themselves here and springboard from there in the summer.

Erling Haaland is injured and won’t feature until next month, meaning he would miss the semifinal of the FA Cup against Forest. Is this some good news for Leicester? How will Pep Guardiola adapt without the man that runs the show for him upfront?

Expect Phil Foden and Omar Marmoush to be trusted with roles upfront, while Kevin De Bruyne could be thrown into the hole for those passes into the final third. If there’s one game City must show signs of recovery in, it is this one against Leicester.

Verdict: Straight win City