PREVIEW: In-form Manchester City travel to Villarreal for Champions League clash | OneFootball

In stellar form, Pep Guardiola leads Manchester City to Villarreal as they aim to secure a top spot in their Champions League group.

City have been excellent in the league, with Erling Haaland continuing his prolific scoring run. However, their last European outing saw a shaky performance against Monaco, where Haaland’s brace wasn’t enough to claim all three points.

Guardiola will be determined to make amends, and with City’s league form on the rise and Haaland firing, their trip to Spain could be a turning point – though it won’t be easy.

It has been nearly a year since their last away win in the Champions League, a 4-0 victory over Slovan Bratislava.

Despite Haaland’s brilliance – 14 goals in all competitions this season – City have struggled for goals elsewhere. Guardiola will need to address overreliance on one player, especially with multiple competitions on the horizon.

Villarreal, meanwhile, drew 2-2 with Juventus in their second group-stage match after a narrow loss to Spurs.

The Yellow Submarine have shown resilience but have struggled recently in La Liga, failing to win their last three matches, including a 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid and squandering a two-goal lead against Real Betis. Their record against the English side is also poor, having failed to win in their last eight encounters.

City welcome back full-back Ryan Ait-Nouri, though Abdoukar Khusanov remains sidelined with an ankle injury. Omar Marmoush and Rayan Cherki could make their first Champions League starts of the season, providing reinforcements in attack that may ease the team’s reliance on Haaland.

For Villarreal, former Premier League defenders Willy Kambwala and Juan Foyth remain out, but Nicolas Pepe is fit to start alongside Georges Mikautadze, offering additional attacking threat for the Spanish side.

The match will be broadcast live on TNT Sports in the UK, with a kick-off time of 20:00 [BST].