Manchester City kicked off their Club World Cup challenge with a fairly comfortable 2-0 success over Wydad AC and they are red hot favourites to collect another three points when they take on UAE representatives Al Ain at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Sunday.
While Pep Guardiola’s side are firmly on course to reach the round of 16, an early elimination already seems likely for Al Ain, who were beaten 5-0 by Juventus in their Group G opener.
Al Ain will be striving for a much improved performance but they must prepare themselves for a tough encounter against the 2022-23 Champions League winners.
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Manchester City v Al Ain betting tips
Manchester City to win 4-0 @ 11/2 Erling Haaland to score the first goal @ 9/5 Rayan Ait-Nouri to score anytime @ 18/5Citizens can stroll to a second success
Manchester City are among the leading contenders for the Club World Cup and they can make it two wins from two with a high-scoring success over Al Ain, who are bracing themselves for a first-round exit.
Expanding the Club World Cup to 32 teams was always going to throw up a few uncompetitive affairs and there has been a lack of balance in Group G with Juventus and Manchester City taking early control of the section.
Al Ain’s best effort at a Club World Cup came in 2018 when they battled through three rounds – including a shock penalty shootout success over River Plate – before losing 4-1 to Real Madrid in the final.
However, the UAE outfit looked out of their depth in Wednesday’s 5-0 reverse to Juventus when they started slowly and trailed 4-0 by the end of the first half.
Al Ain’s head coach Vladimir Ivic has a reputation for being defence-minded but he will struggle to come up with a credible plan to resist Manchester City, who have some of the top attacking talent on the planet.
City barely got out of first gear when winning 2-0 against Moroccan side Wydad AC in their Club World Cup opener.
However, they are preparing to start with a stronger side – including Erling Haaland – for their second game and are likely to win by a wider margin.
Hotshot Haaland can start the scoring
Haaland was restricted to a substitute’s role against Wydad AC, but he will be keen to get on the scoring trail and could be the man to break Al Ain’s resistance.
Al Ain will probably aim to try to limit the damage but they will struggle to keep a lid on the Norwegian, who had a supposedly below-par 2024-25 season despite scoring 31 goals across all competitions.
Ait-Nouri ready to deliver on debut
Pep Guardiola will be aiming to give some exposure to his most recent signings, including Rayan Ait-Nouri, who is expected to make his debut in the left-back position.
Ait-Nouri loves to make forward runs and helped himself to four league goals for Wolves last season.
He should score even more regularly for the Citizens and looks overpriced to notch on his first City start.
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