CITY vs VILLA
SATURDAY 15th OCTOBER, 3PM.
7 games (or 18%) into the season and the Premiership Table is beginning to take shape. Saturday’s clash against Villa sees 2 of the 4 unbeaten teams in the division coming together.
Villa, with their trio of ex-City favourites Dunney, Shay Given and Stephen Ireland appear to be made of much sterner stuff this season under the guidance of the controversial ex-Brummie gaffer Alex McLeish. However, they’ve only been victorious in 2 of their games, both at home, whilst they have drawn all 3 on their travels scoring only 3 goals. This bodes well for the Blues with our 100% home record and no goals conceded.
LAST SEASON
The 28th of December 2010 witnessed not only Mario’s first home goal, but also his first hat-trick for City. With goals in the 8th (pen), 27th and 55th (another pen) and a Lescott header in the 13th we cruised, albeit just for a couple of hours, to the top of the League. The return game at Villa Park came just 25 days later when Darren Bent marked his debut with the only goal in a 1-0 defeat.
DANGER MEN
Gabby Agbonlahor appears to have found his goalscoring touch again this season, weighing in with 4 goals so far. I’m sure it won’t be long however before he starts to once again under-deliver as per. Beyond him and Bent, who have scored 66% of their League Goals this season, Villa are a very ordinary side and the stats would suggest that if we can keep those 2 quiet, we keep Villa quiet.
EXPECTED CITY LINE UP
I can’t see us not going for anything but the jugular. We’ve absolutely nothing to be cautious about so don’t expect too many surprises in our starting 11. Presuming that we don’t take any chances with Aguero’s fitness with Villareal in mind for Tuesday, the biggest decision for Bobby is as to who plays up front. Dzeko fresh from his scoring appearance for Bosnia this week, or an in-form and improved in attitude Mario? Hopefully if things are going to plan we’ll be able to afford ourselves the luxury of 2nd half substitutions to conserve some energy for Tuesday.
PREDICTION
On paper we appear far too strong for Villa, and unless something goes disastrously wrong we should be in for another 3 points. If the Scousers can take at least a point off the Rags in the early kick off, then we’ll go back to the top of the Prem. Villa currently boast the 2nd highest Yellow Card count in the division, so if we can pop a couple of early goals in and wind them up a bit we should be in for another enjoyable 90 minutes and a potential repeat of last season’s rout.
CITY 3-0 VILLA
Nasri 12
Silva 51
Balotelli 78
Actually…. Scrub that….
CITY 4-0 VILLA
Nasri 12
Silva 51
Balotelli 78
Dunne OG 89
Some things never change.
Enjoy the game!
BLUE TOY