Manchester City will travel to San Paolo, on Tuesday, to face Napoli in a crunch Champions League group stage encounter.

The winner of the tie can ensure progress to the knock-out rounds, while the side on the losing end will face the daunting task of defeating Bayern Munich in the last group stage fixture, in a fortnight.

Despite their domestic dominance - Man City lead the Premiership with five points over second-placed Man United - City have suffered in Europe after opening their campaign with a draw against Napoli, before losing 2-0 at Bayern Munich in a match clouded by the Carlos Tevez affair, wherein he allegedly refused to play.

However, the blue half of Manchester managed back-to-back wins against Villarreal, which took them upto second in the group table, three points behind leaders Bayern Munich. However, Napoli lie at the third-place, two points behind City, and will know that this could well prove their penultimate Champions League match of the season, if they lose.

It makes for a very interesting match-up in Italy and with Napoli supporters' reputation to go to extremes, City have issued safety advice to traveling fans.

Roberto Mancini's side are in the middle of a good run, though. Since the 2-0 loss at Munich, City have won nine consecutive matches in all competitions, scoring 33 goals. Napoli, on the other hand, have had an indifferent run of late, with a run of just one win in seven matches, leaving them at seventh spot in the Italian Serie A.

It makes for an interesting contest, and with both teams expected to go on the attack, expect another match featuring end-to-end action after their 2-2 draw in the reverse fixture.

Team News

Napoli will be without Marco Donadel, who is injured, but is expected to send out their regular starting line-up with Walter Gargano expected to return to the starting XI.

Manchester City have no injury concercns as such, although Carlos Tevez is unavailable while Owen Hargreaves has not been included in their Champions League squad.

Prediction

It will be a highly entertaining encounter with many goals expected. However, City have been on top form of late while Napoli have labored.

A 2-3 City win looks possible.

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