Dinamo Zagreb vs Manchester City preview

Team news, stats and prediction as Manchester City travel to Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League.

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Team news

John Stones has been ruled out of Manchester City's Champions League clash with Dinamo Zagreb on Wednesday.

The England defender did not train with the squad on Tuesday morning and was not included in the squad to travel to Croatia later in the day.

Stones, 25, limped out of City's derby loss to Manchester United in the Premier League on Saturday. It is not yet known how long he will be out.

His absence means City will have to change both centre-backs for the clash at the Maksimir Stadium as Brazilian Fernandinho is suspended.

Youngsters Eric Garcia and Taylor Harwood-Bellis have joined Nicolas Otamendi, now City's only fit senior central defender, in the squad.

The hosts only have one injury concern in the shape of Sandro Kulenovic, who is not expected to return to action from a broken foot until next month.

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State of play

Man City have already qualified for the knockout stages as Group C winners. Dinamo Zagreb will go through if they beat Man City and Shakhtar do not beat Atalanta.

Opta stats

• This will be only the second competitive meeting between Dinamo Zagreb and Manchester City, after the Citizens won the first 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium in October.
• Dinamo Zagreb have only won one of their five Champions League meetings with English sides (D1 L3), a 2-1 win at home to Arsenal in September 2015.
• Manchester City have lost just one of their last 14 Champions League matches (W10 D3 L1), losing away to Spurs in last season's quarter-final (1st leg).
• Man City will finish top of their group for the fourth time in their last five participations in the Champions League, including in each of the last three seasons. After finishing 1st in their group in those campaigns, the Citizens reached at least the quarter-final stage on each previous occasion.
• Dinamo Zagreb have picked up five points in this season's Champions League - only in 1998-99 (8 pts) have they won more in a single group stage in the competition (incl. group stage 1st). They have never made the knockout stage of the Champions League.

Charlie Nicholas' prediction

I imagine Pep Guardiola will make a lot of changes. The job is done. He will still be quite angry at some of the players - they have looked uninspiring. Kevin De Bruyne is carrying them on his own at times, while John Stones was dealt with another injury.

They should be more than good enough to win but I think Manchester City are having a reality check at the moment. Is this really the competition they have to win? The answer is yes. Take a score draw, get home and wait for the draw.

CHARLIE PREDICTS: 1-1 (7/1 with Sky Bet)

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