Date: Saturday, 15th January 2011
KO: 15:00
Venue: City of Manchester Stadium
Author: bluej
A return to Eastlands for us then, and a fair amount has happened since the 1-0 win over Blackpool. A great defensive display from City earned a hard fought point at Arsenal, followed by a 2-2 FA Cup draw away at Leicester, where the defending wasn’t quite up to the same standard. Still, plenty to look forward to for City fans, as there were more than enough chances for City to have won the game, including Nigel De Jong coming agonisingly close to breaking his duck for the club.
The cup tie against Leicester also provided a poignant tribute to Neil Young, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer at the end of 2010. A red and black theme (the colours that City were wearing against Leicester in the 1969 FA Cup final, Young scored the winning goal) was complemented with ‘the Poznan’ on the 24th minute (when Young scored) and a banner reading ‘There’s only one Neil Young’. A really nice touch from all that travelled, and something that was echoed by Blues watching from all over I would think.
Onto the matter in hand, and this game brings Wolverhampton Wanderers to Eastlands for the second time since their recent promotion. This away fixture for City was one of the low points in what has been an exciting season, a 2-1 defeat, despite taking the lead early on. Wolves have had a tough season so far, spending most of it near to the bottom of the table, but they will arrive on somewhat of a high having recently dispatched Chelsea at Molineux and Liverpool at Anfield. Add this into the fact that only ourselves and our dearest neighbours have won more games in the last 7 and Wolves shouldn’t be taken lightly. Consistency isn’t their strong point though, those recent wins have sandwiched a defeat against fellow strugglers West Ham and is precisely why they are only just out of the drop zone on goal difference.
City will be looking to exact revenge on Wolves then, and can possibly welcome a new signing to the starting XI. Edin Dzeko signed on the 7th of this month for around £27.5 million, in one of the worst kept transfer secrets in recent times. Roberto Mancini’s admiration of the player has been known for a long time, and his qualities of leading the forward line are something that we have sometimes been missing this season.
The team news then and Wolves have a number of injuries and suspensions that will affect their match day squad. Edwards, Guedioura, Kightly and Mancienne are all expected to be out through injury, whilst George Elokobi starts a 3 match ban. City have Balotelli (knee) and Richards (back) out but David Silva is expected to return to the starting XI. Dzeko isn’t believed to be starting, but will no doubt feature at some point.
My prediction for the game is a fairly routine 2-0 win for City, Tevez and Silva with the goals. Also watch out for Wolves fans singing ‘where were you when you were sh*t?’, forgetting their own questionable attendance record in the lower leagues.