Chelsea’s title hopes hang on their ability to stop Manchester City
Premier League leaders Manchester City travel to Stamford Bridge to take on Chelsea this Monday, in an important game for both sides. The hosts can all but wave goodbye to their title aspirations with a defeat, whilst if the visitors are beaten they may see their lead at the top cut to two points going into a hectic festive season. The latest football betting odds have Chelsea as favourites at odds of 7/5, but City have been in excellent form domestically and will take some beating.
Manchester City and life without the UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League has come and gone in the blink of an eye for Manchester City this season as their otherwise magnificent season gets its first reality check. Roberto Mancini’s side have blitzed virtually every team in England on their way to the top of the Premier League table, the Carling Cup semi-finals as well as being in confident mood to dispose of rivals Manchester United in the FA 3rd round.
Which is why Wednesday night’s elimination from Europe’s premier competition comes as an even greater shock to the system of Blues’ fans but the hotels in Manchester will hardly be complaining since the Europa League will only confirm extra games for the Citizens to play. But Group A is in the past now and the Italian tactician must ensure his squad brimming full of superstars are focused on their domestic matters at hand as well as making sure his team do well in the Europa League.
Liverpool, Arsenal and Bayern Munich to test City’s resolve
Manchester City have started their 2011-12 season at a blistering speed as Premiership betting odds declared them favorites for the title, but any club fans that thought the Etihad Stadium outfit were simply going to whitewash every team that crossed their paths with ease may now be having a second thought. The 2-1 defeat to Napoli in Italy on Tuesday night will test Roberto Mancini’s men’s resolve, as three difficult opponents lay in wait over the next 11 days.
Confident City ready for Villarreal climax
This season you can also play live, legendary football with Heineken Star Player. Play live with every UEFA Champions League match on TV and anticipate the outcome of live match moments to score. See video at the end for more information.
Manchester City will travel to Spain to take on Villarreal at El Madrigal in the form of their life as they seek to secure Champions League knock-out action. The Group A moment of truth will kick-off at 7:45 p.m. on 2nd November and an explosive match it to be expected as both sides pass the halfway mark of the group stage.
Mario Balotelli - Love him or hate him, nobody can slate his talent!
Man Utd 1-6 Man City: Blue dominance in Manchester established
Manchester City humiliated Manchester United in a 6-1 victory as the visitors opened up a five point gap at the top of the Premier League table. Braces from Mario Balotelli and Edin Dzeko as well as strikes from Sergio Aguero and David Silva put Sir Alex Ferguson’s men to the sword while a stunning consolation from Darren Fletcher proved futile. The Manchester City statistics cannot be disputed because after weathering the early storm from their hosts, they tore them to shreds and the scoreline fairly reflects that.
Star of the show: David Silva
The hosts kicked-off in a much brighter fashion to their big-spending rivals as they dominated possession early on. Ashley Young in particular was proving to be a thorn in Manchester City’s defence but the home side couldn’t unlock their rearguard as Wayne Rooney and Anderson were restricted to long-range efforts.
However in the 22nd minute against the run of play, the visitors grabbed the lead. James Milner collected Sergio Aguero’s incisive pass and the Englishman pulled it back for Balotelli, who passed it precisely into David de Gea’s bottom left corner. Ferguson’s men were jolted by conceding as Roberto Mancini’s men finally got a foothold on proceedings and began to enjoy long spells of possession themselves but there were no significant chances before the end of the first half.
Within a minute of the restart, Manchester United’s day got worse as Jonny Evans hauled Balotelli down on the edge of the box. The Northern Irish defender received a red card since he was last man back and their defence never got to grips with their cross-city rivals since then.
Mario Balotelli after netting the opener
Balotelli doubled City’s lead on the hour mark when he converted Milner’s cross as Patrice Evra’s indiscipline was exposed at the back. Micah Richards and Sergio Aguero combined to complete the same feat down the right flank as the right-back’s back post cross was converted by the Argentine attacker to make it 3-0 to City.
However with nine minutes left, Darren Fletcher produced a stunning 25-yard curling effort that found Joe Hart’s top left corner as hopes of a United comeback materialised. But nothing was going to take this day away from the FA Cup holders as Edin Dzeko kneed in Joleon Lescott’s cross in the 90th minute to make the scoreline 4-1.
The Premier League champions defence disintegrated further in injury time when David Silva was allowed to ghost though their sieve-like defence and slot the ball under the helpless de Gea. There was still time for Dzeko to snatch a sixth as he latched onto Silva’s sublime pass and calmly slotted past the young Spanish ‘keeper once again.
Alex Ferguson was bamboozled
The crushing defeat of Manchester United puts a chasm between the two sides as Man City are now five points clear of them in the race for the Premier League title with a vastly superior goal difference of +26, 12 more than their championship rivals. The size of the win will have a long-term positive psychological effect on Macini’s squad as a powershift looks on the cards in the city of Manchester.
Visit WhoScored.com for more detail match reports and football statistics.
What do City need – more players or tactical flexibility?
City’s whirlwind push to the top of English football bears it’s own weight of expectations. Here we are, a decade or so back in the top league, where we belong, living out every football fan’s dream.
And yet there’s a heavy expectation from City these days -every performance scrutinised, every goal weighed, every mistake magnified. And with City now expected to compete on all four fronts, we will find out this season if the squad can live up to the stress or, like Arsenal, break down.
Manchester City 2011/2012 Season Preview
When Sheik Mansour completed his purchase of Manchester City on September 23rd 2009, nobody could have envisaged the impact his money would have had since then. Having captured world class talent such as Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Mario Balotelli, the Citizens are now ready to launch a serious title challenge against their more illustrious neighbours Manchester United. Even Sir Alex Ferguson, who previously dismissed his rivals as mere ‘noisy neighbours,’ has now acknowledged them as genuine contenders for all honours this season.
Manchester City fringe players who can now be offloaded to cut the wage bill
Manchester City are on the verge of signing Sergio Aguero from Atletico Madrid for a large transfer fee, and the diminutive Argentine will be paid handsomely for swapping the Vicente Calderon for Eastlands. With another high paid star on the books, and the club one of the biggest spenders in terms of salaries in Europe, a number of players need to be sold to recuperate the transfer fees spent and limit the wage bill.
Although Sheik Mansour and the owners of the football club are not overly concerned with the amount of money spent given the multi-millions at their disposal, Fifa’s new financial fair play ruling could have a real impact on the leading clubs over the next couple of seasons. With a deal to sell the naming rights of the stadium in place to help to try and balance the profit and loss account, the next sensible move is to ditch a number of top earning players that do not warrant large salaries.
The FM 09/10 Fantasy Football League – over £500 worth of prizes to win
The 09/10 Premier League season starts in 2 weeks and the inaugural Football Media Fantasy Football league is now open for business.
There are a host of prizes to win, it’s free to join and it’s based on the popular and very easy to use premier league fantasy football game.
How To Play
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