Sunderland - Manchester City Preview: Roberto Mancini's side look to end three-game winless run on Wearside The Black Cats' are hoping to improve on their dismal Boxing Day form against the Premier League champions who have the best away record in the top flight this season Sunderland vs Manchester City PROBABLE LINEUPS Sunderland Mignolet Gardner, O'Shea, Cuellar, Rose Johnson, Colback, Larsson, McClean Sessegnon Fletcher Manchester City Hart Zabaleta, Kompany, Nastasic, Clichy Barry, Garcia Silva, Toure, Tevez Aguero Sunderland boss Martin OâNeill may stick with the same side that beat Southampton 1-0 on Saturday. The 60-year-old has no new injury worries ahead of the visit of the Premier League champions as only long-term absentees Wes Brown and Lee Cattermole (both knee) are out. Phil Bardsley may be brought back into the team with Adam Johnson (ankle) facing a late fitness test which would allow Craig Gardner to move back into midfield and Sebastian Larsson to start out wide. Manchester City could be boosted by the return of captain Vincent Kompany (groin) for the trip to the Stadium Light. The defender has spent the past two games on the sidelines but is expected to be fit to face the Black Cats. Mario Balotelli may also come into contention after recovering from an illness while Aleksander Kolarov and Gael Clichy are expected to overcome the knocks which kept them out of the clash against Reading, with the Frenchman set to start. Samir Nasri (groin), Jack Rodwell (hamstring) and Micah Richards (knee) will all miss out. DID YOU KNOW? Sunderland have won just one of their last eight games played on Boxing Day, drawing four times and losing three. Manchester City havenât won at the Stadium of Light since the 2008-09 season. In their last three trips to Wearside theyâve lost twice and drawn once. The Black Cats were the only team that City didnât beat last season when they won the Premier League title. Roberto Manciniâs men are unbeaten in their eight games away from the Etihad Stadium this campaign, the only team in the Premier League still to be so. In the 14 games in which Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero have started together City have won every match. Manciniâs side have scored the 21 goals in the last 30 minutes of matches this season and have scored 11 in the last 15. The last player to score for City at the Stadium of Light was Adam Johnson who is expected line-up for the Black Cats on Wednesday.
A very very tough fixture, but one that I do believe we can get something from...I don't believe that they will be relishing playing at the SOL tomorrow..
Opposition view if thats ok? What tactics will Oneill employ against us? Hard to judge by the non performance at the Etihad where I felt they really missed Catermole to give some passion and bite in midfield with Larsson & sessignon both giving insipid performances. Teams that come to the Etihad tend to either put 10 men behind the ball and hope for a point or look to counter quickly as City are quite vulnerable to the counter as has been highlighted especially in European games as well as the PL. Sunderland had a lot of joy playing that system in the drawn game the season before where they really deserved the win and were the best side to play there all season,which made the tactics and performance of earlier this season all the more bewildering. The best way to get a result against City has hardly altered much over the last couple of seasons.We struggle against teams that get in our faces and work their socks off to starve the front men of a supply from Silva and Nasri while utilising quick wide men to break at pace. Whenever teams play against us differently to that method they get beat,sometimes I wonder what opposition managers are thinking.Put a video of Everton or Liverpool playing against us and copy it. Personally I hope you use Pardews tactics from the first half at st James pk,sit back and allow us the ball in front of the 18yd box without a whimper and let us pick you off. We aren't playing well but must keep winning to keep the gap to the rags manageable,so a game where we'd normally happily take a point becomes a bit more fraught with danger as we will have to come for a win and the threat from Fletcher,Johnson,sessignon,McLean and Larsson becomes a bigger worry Oh and happy Christmas
MON has played a defensive formation designed to counter-attack all season, and I can't see that changing much tomorrow...
We've sold out but only received 2100 Probably restricted because of persistent standing? Thought all away fans stand up throughout,apart from Norwich and Fulham obviously
It is the police whe enforce the cuts in numbers for clubs whose fans stand all the time..I for one back their stance, because in my opinion those who stand all the time (and I'm including our fans here), are pretty selfish and are preventing the small, elderly and infirm from watching the games..
I think Meyler might play to give us a bit more strength and height in the midfield against the likes of Toure. Apart from that I think Gardener will remain at full back and one up front with Sess just behind him.
I'm absolutely loaded with cold, so I think I'm going to need a few pre-match whiskies in the Railway Club to set me up for the game...
You'll be lucky, he has a 1 game ban for 5 yellows Meyler has been good for us. Looked short of match practice when he came but has gotten better with each game. He does seem prone to picking up cards as you can see from this. I would be very happy if we could keep him longer but if he goes back to you guys so be it. Good luck today.
haha. stand up Andrew from Newcastle, hope you enjoy today... (check out the comment at 1306) http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20838609
Man city starting line up J. Hart P. Zabaleta K. Touré V. Kompany M. Nastasic Y. Touré Javi Garcia J. Milner D. Silva C. Tévez S. Agüero City have won every game Tevez & Aguero started together Think we'll nick it 1-2
aye, me too. i don't think you'll stuff us, but you've been caught out twice here the past two seasons and mancini won't let that happen again. if you play well, you'll have too much for us.
