It’s been a horrid passage of play for Manchester City and it’s difficult to remember a time, in recent years, when things were quite so off kilter. But, hey, it could be a lot worse. City could be struggling in The Championship with Stuart Pearce at the helm!
Now that we have ironed out any complacency from the Manchester City faithful let’s deal with the here and now. A win against West Ham last weekend will have restored some confidence but Manuel Pellegrini gave some mixed news on the injury front on Friday afternoon:
“Tomorrow Kompany. Clichy, Nasri and Jovetic are injured. Bony and Milner have recovered for this game.”
“It’s important how Vincent will improve in the next week. I think he’ll be missing for at least two weeks more.”
Despite his somewhat patchy form of late, it’s never good to lose a player of Kompany’s influence. But the expensive French recruit Eliaquim Mangala finally looks as if he’s beginning to understand the English game and will surely keep his place alongside Demichelis in the heart of the defence.
Clichy’s injury surely means a start for the very able Kolarov and the defence should retain it’s solidity.
The news that Bony is fit is very positive. He will be desperate for game time and we hope that Pellegrini won’t leave his £30m January recruit on the bench because this lad will be a big hit when he gets into his stride. We also think that he can form a devastating partnership with Sergio Aguero.
Samir Nasri would have been a big miss a year ago but he seems to be more peripheral to the game every time we see him play. So here is our strongest XI for Manchester City’s teatime kick off (1730 Local time) on Saturday. City fans: let’s have your elevens.
