MAN CITY v Cardiff – The PREVIEW: City’s Probable Team
17 Jan
After the thumping cup victory over Blackburn in midweek, Manuel Pellegrini is expected to resort back to his first-choice side as he looks to avenge Cardiff’s defeat of City earlier this season. Joe Hart will replace Costel Pantilimon, whilst Pablo Zabaleta, Vincent Kompany, Martin Demichelis and Aleks Kolarov are all expected to return after sitting out the FA Cup replay.
Yaya Touré is available again after a slight back niggle, as is David Silva, so expect to see those two line up alongside Fernandinho and Jesus Navas in an attack-minded Blues midfield. Following his dramatic return from injury during the week, Sergio Aguero will probably take his place on the bench once more but will hope for a longer cameo as he searches for match fitness.
Here is the side Pellegrini could select:
Referee: Neil Swarbrick.
Prediction: MAN CITY 4 – 0 Cardiff – I’d expect the visitors to come and sit back, defend deep and try to frustrate our attacking endeavours, but they may crumble if and when we score the opening goal. I’m predicting Alvaro Negredo, Edin Dzeko, Sergio Aguero and David Silva to get their names on the scoresheet.
Aleks Kolarov to score first and City to win 5-0 is 65/1. Bet with William Hill here!
Be interesting to see what happens if they get a corner. The away fixture was when Cardiff set 3 men to jump all over Joe, while Campbell did the damage. But Joe doesn’t like any of our players on his goal line for corners. Granted, Campbell has done nothing since, and Joe will be smarting from the press reaction from the first game (a primary cause of him getting dropped). Joe should go down like a sack of potatoes as soon as he gets bumped, but we’ll see if he’s learnt his lesson….
Excellent point Wigan Blue. Hopefully Demichelis will be in the lineup as he’s a wise old head who copes quite well with Physical opposition. I do see Cardiff as a potential banana skin, not unlike Hull and Palace who performed quite well at Eastlands. I can see MP picking a very strong 11 as he can give players like Kompany, Toure, Fernandinho, Silva et al a rest on Tuesday ( no disrespect to the Hammers).