Guardiola's side make impressive start with victories against Feyenoord and Shakhtar Donetsk
After thumping a disappointing Feyenoord 4-0 away, Manchester City has unsurprisingly been installed as favourites to finish top of Group F in the qualifying stages of the 2017/18 Champions’ League.
The best price currently available on City topping the group, with the second round of matches scheduled for 27 September, is 3-10 with Paddy Power, with most bookmakers giving no better than 1-4 on Pep Guardiola’s men finishing ahead of Napoli, Shakhtar Donesk and Feyenoord.
This strong favouritism is borne out by the odds for their next match against the Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donesk at home, with City as low as 1-5 with most sports books, with a best price on offer a miserly 3-13 at Unibet.
However, the online sports books aren’t as convinced about City’s ability to finally go all the way and become Champions of Europe, as most have them ranked well behind Real Madrid (favourites at around 7-2), PSG, Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
The best price you can get on City winning the Champions’ League is currently 12-1 with bet365, BetVictor, Betway, bWin, 188Bet and SunBets, although they are as low as 9-1 at William Hill, Marathon Bet and 21Bet (see this 21 Bet Review for some other specials). Some bookmakers are at least a little more optimistic about City reaching the final in Kiev next May, with odds of about 11-2 currently on offer.
In terms of City’s top goalscorer in the tournament, only one man is really in the reckoning according to the bookies, with Sergio Agüero currently at 4-7, a long way ahead of David Silva and Raheem Stirling at 25-1. This is of course unsurprising, given the Argentine’s form, where he scored early against Feyenoord and then followed this up with an outstanding hat-trick in the 6-0 destruction of Watford in the Premier League, to move within two of becoming Manchester City’s all-time highest goalscorer, a record held by Eric Brook since 1940.
Given this form, one of the best value bets around must surely be Agüero finishing as the Champions’ League top goalscorer, as you can currently get as much as 25-1 on this at bet365, some way off the favourite Cristiano Ronaldo, who most bookies have installed as favourite at around 3-1.
Bookmakers are far more optimistic about City’s chances of becoming Premier League champions again for the first time since the 2013-14 season, on the back of emphatic victories like that against Watford and the 5-0 thrashing of Liverpool. The best price you can get on City taking out the title is currently even money, with prices as low 4-5 with some sports books. Most have them well ahead in the title race ahead of Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United and current champions Chelsea, with best odds of 10-3 and 5-1 respectively.