Budding City Centurions Eye A Solskjær Slaughter
Edin Džeko's 79th minute strike against Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday night sensationally secured Manchester City's 99th goal of the season in all competitions. Now, with just one goal separating the blues from a radiant club record, the race is on for the 100th.
Anxious to collect the predictions of City fans still pinching themselves after seeing their beloved blues net 13 goals in a week, I took to Twitter to ask who they thought would claim the famous goal. In a poll completed by a congregation of impassioned City supporters, Álvaro Negredo topped the list ahead of Sergio Agüero and David Silva with 33% of the votes. A portion of optimistic fans even proposed Joleon Lescott as the sacred scorer, whilst others suggested an own goal would sum up the side's 'Typical City' tag. Regardless, with 38 league goals on home turf so far this season, the Etihad are all but guaranteed to be applauding a sky blue scorer on Saturday afternoon.
(Who will score City's 100th?: Negredo leads the way with 33% of the votes)
Despite disposing of the Rovers in relatively elementary fashion in mid-week, the tie presented a prickly conundrum to manager Manuel Pellegrini. Sergio Agüero's swift return to action saw the Argentinian net after just 49 seconds in the 5-0 win, but his striking saboteur Edin Džeko produced yet another luxurious performance with his second brace in a week. With Álvaro Negredo's place in the side essentially guaranteed after a string of sizzling displays, the Chilean has welcomed impending selection issues. In an interview with the Daily Mirror, the 60 year-old said 'for me, that is no problem' and insisted 'it's a problem when you have no players to choose'. However, with Agüero still yet to reach full fitness, the Bosnian is likely to retain his starting place this weekend.
If there's one man who can stop City's phenomenal home record; it's Vincent Tan. The quirky Malaysian witnessed the Welsh dragons record a remarkable 3-2 victory over City back in August thanks to a Fraizer Campbell brace. However, since the result, the Bluebirds have failed to take flight, recording just four wins in 19 Premier League games. That miserable form sealed the demise of Malky Mackay who was relieved of his duties just before the new year.
(You're Fired!: Malky Mackay was sacked in late December)
The vacant position, labelled as 'the job from hell' by many after witnessing the idiosyncrasies of Cardiff's Malaysian maestro, promised to remain unfilled for some time and it required one truly brave soul to step up and snatch the opportunity. Enter Ole Gunnar Solskjær; the man who unarguably treated Manchester United fans to their most mouthwatering moment in recent history. The famous Champions League win in 1999 is sure to occupy a large patch of land on the Norwegian's mind, but a win against his old foes will be more important to him come Saturday.
The Scandinavian led Norwegian club Molde to two titles in three years and has finally returned to the league he once loved to prove his managerial capabilities. A 2-1 win over Newcastle United in the FA Cup was quickly quashed by a catastrophic 2-0 loss to West Ham United in the following week. With just one point separating themselves and 20th placed Crystal Palace, it really is time for the Bluebirds to spread their wings.
Prediction: 3-0
Where's Jovetić? Here he is! The mysterious Montenegrin has finally returned to first team training but will not be included in Manuel Pellegrini's squad to face Cardiff City this weekend. Sergio Agüero is expected to retain a place on the bench whilst Yaya Touré and David Silva have been declared fit to play after being rested in mid-week. Samir Nasri and Jack Rodwell remain unavailable.
(It's love: Yaya and David will return to the side on Saturday)
Jordan Mutch and Andrew Taylor make up a short injury list for the visitors.
Possible line-ups
Manchester City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Demichelis, Kolarov, Navas, Yaya Touré, Fernandinho, Silva, Negredo, Džeko
Cardiff City: Marshall, Theophile-Catherine, Caulker, Hudson, John, Noone, Medel, Kim, Whittingham, Odemwingie, Campbell
Key Players
Álvaro Negredo
The Spaniard has been in stunning form of late, scoring 7 goals in his last 4 games for the club. The £16.4m man has recently been dubbed the 'new Alan Shearer' by Premier League legend Robbie Savage who believes he is the nearest thing to an old fashioned number nine since the Newcastle forward. The Beast opened his Premier League account against the Bluebirds and will be hoping yet another goal will steer his side to a revengeful win over them this time around.
Fraizer Campbell
He terrorised the blues in August and will be aiming to do the same in January. The former Manchester United man has endured a stop start season with the Welsh dragons scoring just 4 Premier League goals in 21 appearances. However, the striker tends to nod in the important ones and a goal against the league's most formidable home side could prove very important indeed.
- The Bluebirds came out on top in the first ever Premier League meeting between the sides, recording a surprise 3-2 victory over City in August
- However, Cardiff have won only once away from home against Manchester City in October 1961
- City's last home fixture against the Welsh side in Division 2 ended in a 2-2 draw in March 1985
Premier League Stats
- Manchester City (59) have scored 44 more goals than Cardiff (15) this season
- The Bluebirds (34) have also conceded 11 more goals than the blues (23)
- Pellegrini's side have scored 15 goals from set pieces this season (largely down to a certain Ivorian), with their weekend opponents scoring just 6
- Manchester City (38%) have the best shot accuracy in the league whilst Cardiff possess one of the league's worst with just 29%
- The sides differ significantly in the number of chances created with Manchester City heading the Premier League list with 288. Cardiff sit at the bottom with just 158 chances created.
