Manchester City will look to continue to fine form and make it nine games unbeaten in all competitions so far, but will face tough comeptition as they welcome the Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Dontesk to the Etihad Stadium. 

Continuing their devestation 

It has been an excellent start to the camapign for The Citizens with the club yet to taste defeat thus far, with Pep Guardiola looking to eradicate the disappointing result of his first season in England in which he failed to win a trophy for the first time in his managerial career. 

City have certainly picked up the pace in the weeks following the international break scoring 22 goals in their last five matches conceding just the one, and five more of those goals came on Saturday as Roy Hodgson's Crystal Palace came to town. 

It took a while for City to get but once Leroy Sané opened the scoring just before the break the floodgates opened, Raheem Sterling added a brace just after the restart before further goals from Sergio Agüero and Fabian Delph secured the second consecutive 5-0 league victory at home. 

The Citizens started their Champions League campaign well with the 4-0 win away to Feyenoord, but Guardiola will be wary of the visit of Ukranian champions and what they can do. 

"Every time I play Shakhtar," Guardiola told his pre-match press conference. "I have the same feeling."

"When I faced them first time," the coach added. "My team went to see them and came back and said 'Wow'."

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Looking to grind the train to a halt 

Dontesk will travel to England certainly looking to spoil the party that has been the start to City's season, and considering their recent form City will certainly will have to be on their toes to come away with three points. 

They have also had an excellent start to their Premier League campaign having lost just the one game since July, but it was the result on matchday one that may have shocked many. 

Many named Napoli as the favourite to pass into the knockout stages, but goals from Taison and Facundo Ferreyra gave them the surprising 2-1 victory and will be looking for something similar in Eastlands. 

Team news 

The biggest sweat that Guardiola will have in terms of team selection, will be the fitness of world-record defensive signing Benjamin Mendy. The Frenchman was taken off early into Saturday's clash with a knee injury, and he will face a late fitness test.

İlkay Gündoğan returned to light training after a knee injury in the cup win over West Brom but Tuesday might come too quick, skipper Vincent Kompany will not be available for selction as he has failed to recover from his knock. 

Paulo Fonseca will be without three players for the trip to the Etihad, with: Maksym Malyshev, Darijo Srna and Serhiy Kryvtsov all expected to be absent for the Ukrainian champions. 

Manchester City will take on Shakhtar Dontesk in their second match of the Champions League group stages at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday, September 26 with kick-off at 7:45pm DST.

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About the author
Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.