Talking BETTING

JOSE Mourinho must be looking on enviously at his rival Pep Guardiola as they head into the two games before the derby showdown at the Etihad.

The Reds are at in-form Bournemouth today in the early kick-off while City host struggling Southampton tomorrow, but the contrast is even more pronounced on Wednesday in the Champions League.

City are at home again when, as group leaders, they play Shakhtar Donetsk, who are bottom, while Mourinho’s stop-start team are playing for second place in their group when they take on Ronaldo’s Juventus.

Juve are 6/1 with Betfred to win the Champions League outright behind City, who are 9/2 favourites, and Barcelona at 5/1. Liverpool are 8/1 while United, who are struggling to get their act together in the Premier League, are among the long shots at 40/1 – and Spurs are out there with the also-rans at 100/1.

Out-of-sorts striker Romelu Lukaku – likely to start for United after being dropped against Everton – has not scored in nine games. He’s 9/2 favourite to mark his comeback and score first against the Cherries, with the Reds favourite at evens to win, even though the home team are four places ahead of United in the table in sixth.

This has happened once before, but I’m ready to admit I was wrong about Raheem Sterling. I never thought he was going to hit the heights he has, which is a credit to Pep Guardiola. Sterling is 4/1 to celebrate his new deal with the opener against the Saints.

There were worrying reports earlier this week that Dortmund are planning to lure hot property Phil Foden away from the Etihad, which would be terrible news for club football in this country and the national team.

Guradiola’s squad of superstars, who are favourites for the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and Carabao, have been cut at Betfred from 80/1 to 66/1 for the quad!