Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City return to Champions League action this evening when they host French outfit Monaco at the Etihad Stadium (7.45pm kick-off).

The Citizens finished runners-up to Barcelona in their group earlier in the season, having won two of their six matches, and drawing three of the four others.

In fact, their only defeat came away to Luis Enrique’s side back in October, although they then produced a stunning display to win 3-1 at the Etihad a few weeks later.

Nonetheless, tonight will be a tough game for Guardiola’s men, as Monaco currently top Ligue 1 in France ahead of Paris Saint-Germain, having won 18 of their 26 league games this term, including six of their last eight.

Add in the fact that they won their Champions League group, which consisted of Bayer Leverkusen and Tottenham, and Leonardo Jardim’s side are a seriously impressive outfit, and one City will need to be at their best at to beat this evening.

However, City’s recent form has been good, and they were pretty impressive in their group stage campaign, so here are THREE reasons why Guardiola’s side will win at the Etihad this evening…

Solid home form in Europe

Manchester City were unbeaten at the Etihad Stadium throughout their group stage campaign, winning two and drawing the other of their three matches.

Guardiola’s men thumped Borussia Monchengladbach 4-0 back on September 14, before producing arguably their best performance under the Spaniard since he took over to beat Barcelona 3-1 on November 1.

What was even more impressive about that was not only that they fell behind, but their backs were against the wall in terms of qualifying for the last 16, given that they had picked up just four points from their three games preceding this one, only one more than Monchengladbach.

That will give the City fans confidence that, when they need a win, like this evening, they are able to respond to the pressure, and although they drew their last group game at home to Celtic, qualification was already assured, and several fringe players were given a chance to impress.

Clearly, City relish European nights at the Etihad, and that should help inspire them to victory this evening.

Excellent recent displays

Not only have City been solid at home in Europe this term, but their recent displays, with the exception of Huddersfield on Saturday, have also been very impressive.

Guardiola’s men have lost just once in 2017 – a 4-0 thumping at Everton – but since then they have won four and drawn two of their six games, netting 13 goals.

The FA Cup fourth round tie at Crystal Palace saw Guardiola implement the front three of Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane, and Gabriel Jesus for the first time, and since then City have looked deadly going forward with their explosive pace and devastating trickery.

Although Jesus is out for the rest of the term, Guardiola will be sure to see a similar attacking display from his side this evening, and that could be enough to seal them an important victory over Monaco.

Aguero with something to prove

Gabriel Jesus’ metatarsal injury looks set to keep him out for the rest of the season, which may allow Sergio Aguero the chance to prove himself once again to Guardiola.

The Argentine has been benched in their last three Premier League matches in favour of the 19-year-old Brazilian international, and the latter’s link-up with Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane has been devastatingly good, and seen City produce many a goal-scoring chances and get into some great areas.

However, Aguero, scorer of 154 goals in 236 games for City, in the past hasn’t shown to press as highly as Jesus, and his work off-the-ball can sometimes be lacking, both are qualities Guardiola desires from his forwards.

Thus, tonight’s game gives Aguero a chance to prove himself once again to Guardiola, he was dropped earlier in the campaign and came back with a bang and scored goals – this evening gives him the opportunity to do so again.