Is anyone going to this game? I'll be heading there for the game, hopefully another big away win for us, like Anfield.
I'm very confident we will win this game. As someone has already stated, Nasri is injured and he has been playing better than Silva this season. Man City have just come off the back of a very demoralizing run, which will either dampen their spirits or get them fired up. Fingers crossed it's the former. We were one of 5/6 teams to beat Man City in the league last season and we only lost to them away by one jammy goal. I personally think Man City are a bit weaker defensively this season, they're not as strong down the wing due to Richards being out and Maicon being off the pace. So I guess Zabaleta will come in down the right but we all know what happened then against Real Madrid. Hence why we need to play Gerv or Oxo down the left flank. Gerv has being playing well as a false no.9 so I would prefer to keep him there. Unfortunately for us Aguero is back. With Tevez, Balotelli and Dzeko as their attack, we're going to have to defend for our lives. I'll be very shocked if we don't concede because this IMO is the most potent attacking side in the Prem. Mancini probably won't drop Balotelli since he's spineless, good news for them bad news for us. Two things will help us win the game: containing Yaya Toure and beating them on the counter. Arteta and Diaby are going to have to freeze him out the game, which will be damn near impossible since Yaya is such a beast in midfield but he is the key to Man City. Beating them on counter will be our best bet of nicking a few goals... hence why I think starting Giroud will be likely. We need a big man up front to knock the ball in the box to. Kompany is no joke although he had a poor game on Tuesday. I don't see any of our strikers ba Giroud being able to out muscle him. Anyways, I have us winning 2-1.
Their strike force is an issue. If Aguero plays I'd want Kos playing, if Dzecko I'd prefer Merts...but there's no way to know.
Yaya Toure holds the key for Manchester City, hence when he went off last season injured, they lost. Control the midfield and the rest will follow.
Post-Montpellier, pre-ManCity AW interview: [video=dailymotion;xtr7cz]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xtr7cz_wengintmc_sport[/video]
Bulls head directly opposite picadilly station is ok for away fans to drink in I wouldnt be surprised if cazorla has garcia or rodwell on his shadow for the day,stopping him will go a long way to city winning the game imo i think we will line up like this hart zabaleta nastasic kompany clichy garcia rodwell tevez yaya silva aguero
Our coach drops us off in the away fan car park so we only get chance for a beer in the ground but thanks for the info I'm sure if i went by train i'd end up in Victoria. At least i did the last time i went to Manchester by train
I know it's daft going to Manchester when Arsenal are playing in.....................................Manchester
AW press conference: - We'll have the same squad available as mid-week - Szczesny at least 3 weeks out - Wilshere and Frimpong have had full training sessions, Jack will need some reserve games before he can join the squad, Frimpong could have a reserve game as early as tonight (?) - Sagna and Rosicky one week away from training [video=dailymotion;xtrrj0]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xtrrj0_wengmc_sport?start=0[/video]
I see City winning this comfortably but it's as much about the performance than the result. I honestly thought bar Sunderland, Arsenal were the best team to go to the Etihad last year. If Arsenal can perform as well as they did last year I have no doubt they can get something because I do not believe City are as strong as they were back then. How Arsenal fare against City and Chelsea decides if they are realistic contenders IMO. 3 points or more then I'd say yes. Less than that then No.
If you look at it logically Arsenal are a better side than last season. City are not playing as well as they were. By this logic we should get something from this game however football doesn't really work like that... it takes me back to an out of form Arsenal side going up against Chelsea at the Bridge at the beginning of last season and everyone was expecting us to get trounced. We all know what happened there. Anything can happen and will happen when sides are evenly matched.
http://betting.betfair.com/football...view-manchester-city-v-arsenal-210912-60.html Interesting piece from Michael Cox on our against City.
City and Arsenal aren't evenly matched though, City particularly at home are considerably better than not just Arsenal but anyone. As for the Chelsea game I'd argue the sides were evenly matched but I was never confident about that game even when were winning for the simple reason that we always do badly against sides out of form and Arsenal at home is a fixture we've traditionally always struggled with. Without Drogba it's very difficult to see us having that period of domination against Arsenal again, I expect the fixtures between us to be far trickier to call. Unless you get a hammering (unlikely) you will be favourites ahead of the derby on the 29th and rightly so
