Man City vs Chelsea - Preview

            Manchester City vs Chelsea
 Sunday 21st September, Etihad Stadium
                        Kick Off 16:00
                   Referee: Mike Dean

Following tough games against Arsenal and Bayern we finally get an easy run out against Chelsea, in all seriousness this is potentially a vital game for us even though it is still early in the season.

Chelsea come to us tomorrow having won all of their league games this season, they have a good manager, a good team and they are scoring goals, it does not take a rocket scientist to work out that they will cause us some serious problems.

I expect Mourinho to try and conduct one of his tactical master plans against us tomorrow, we have seen him do it a few times in big games since he has returned to Stamford Bridge, he clearly orders possession and patience as well as solid defending and it works very well because he knows that his team can still score goals at the same time.

This is an important game for us, if we don't win the game then we could end up eight points behind Chelsea after just five games and it would take a brave person to suggest that Chelsea would relinquish such a lead even though it is very early into the season, I certainly wouldn't expect City to.

I would like to see Pellegrini send out a team that is all about attacking because Chelsea have been conceding goals, they haven't played any of the big boys yet and two of the teams they have faced have just been promoted, it certainly points towards defensive frailties.

I am feeling unsure again when it comes to predicting a result, not because I am worried about the prospect of facing Chelsea, more because I don't know which City will turn up.
I felt we played better against Arsenal and did well against Bayern but it is still clear that all of our cogs are not turning, if they do start to click into gear then I would back us to beat not only Chelsea but anyone.

Man City Team News
Stevan Jovetic continues to recover from a hamstring injury and Fernando is also set to miss out again as he is still suffering with a groin injury, Dzeko was said to be suffering from a back injury but is expected to be in the squad.

Chelsea Team News
Diego Costa will start despite carrying a hamstring injury, Chelsea are thought to have no other injury worries.

Possible Man City Line Up

Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Demichelis, Clichy, Navas, Toure, Fernandinho, Silva, Aguero, Dzeko.

Possible Chelsea Line Up
Courtois, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta, Fabregas, Matic, Schurrle, Oscar, Hazard, Costa.

My Prediction
Man City 3 - 1 Chelsea.

Worth A Bet
Fernandinho scores the first goal in a 3-1 Man City win @ 190/1.



Join the fantasy football league before the season starts!

This season I have set up a fantasy football league and everyone is welcome to join.

The season starts tomorrow, so if you want to enter, then now is the time to do so.

If you would like to join, all you have to do is go and create your team (if you have not already got one) on the Premier Leagues website, which can be accessed by clicking the following link www.premierleague.com

Once your ready to join the league you will need to enter the following code 634945-154213 and that's it your in.

Thanks for reading.

Premier League fantasy football league, join in!

I have created a fantasy football league for the new season and everyone and anyone is welcome to join.

I have thought about doing a league many times in the past, I have always been worried about not having enough people join though.

So I am hoping people will give it a go, the aim is for at least twenty people to join for the league to go ahead.

If you would like to join all you have to do is go and create your team (if you have not already got one) on the Premier Leagues website which can be accessed by clicking the following link www.premierleague.com

Once your ready to join the league you will need to enter the following code 634945-154213 and that's it your in.

Thanks for reading.

Man City 1 - 0 Bolton Wanderers (Caicedo 8')

The season is finally over, we finished it off by beating Bolton. There are parts of me that are sad that the season is over and parts that are relieved, time to look to next season from now on.

Before the game today City announced that Etihad airline will indeed be our new sponsor, a three year sponsorship deal has been agreed.

To the game, City won the game today through an early goal scored by Felipe Caicedo, there was some lovely link up play before Caicedo put the ball in the net from close range.

We played alright today and should have scored more goals but one nil is as good as five nil as long as you win I suppose. We were treated to a few tricks and flicks today and it was good to watch, of course Robinho was the leader of the gang in that respect.

Because there wasn't really anything on the line today there isn't really anything more to analyse about the way we played, I do however want to mention a couple of players.

ONUOHA: Now several times I have talked about Nedum Onuoha of late but I just can't help it, he is playing so well. His potential has always been evident but after being blighted with injury there was a worry he could have faded away, I am glad to say he hasn't. He is the type of player that you want at your club and truthfully I would consider him as a captain now or in the future. I hope he gets an England call up because he deserves it.

CAICEDO: In Caicedo we have a player that a lot of City fans do not like and the question is why do so many City fans dislike him? I know at least one reason, I know he frustrates fans because he doesn't use all that upper body strength of his. The thing is if your not that type of player your not that type of player and it is that simple. Whatever the other reasons are for disliking him just can't be good reasons because when you sum it up, he is a young lad who has been scoring goals for us this season when he has got his chance in the team. I would like to see him stay and develop further.

GLAUBER BERTI: He got to play!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So the final home game of what has been a turbulent season, I know that I for one will be lost without being able to watch City playing at a weekend, suppose we will have an interesting transfer window to look forward to though.

Man City vs Bolton Wanderers - Sun 24Th May 16:00pm

Its here, the end of a frustrating season comes to an end and that familiar feeling of looking forward to the next one starts to creep in.

People would say that there is nothing to play for tomorrow but I hope the players have a different opinion, I am hoping that they will do their very best to send us all home happy and even with a bit of optimism of what might be next season.

I really want us to smash Bolton tomorrow and I think it is more than possible that we will. Bolton are not a good team and with only pride to play for I fancy City to be more expressive and hammer them.

Lets make some noise tomorrow and show our players that they are appreciated by us. I know they have let us down at times this season but lets give them something to remember what they are coming back to after their holidays, which is a club with passion, hope and loyalty that they should find themselves lucky to play for!

Nothing more to say really apart from come on City give us something to smile about!!!!!!!!!

City team news:
We are sweating on the fitness of our Brazilian superstar Robinho, he is struggling with a groin injury, I hope he passes his fitness test so we get to see him before the season finishes. Shaun Wright-Phillips and Craig Bellamy both miss out with knee injuries.

Bolton team news:
Andy O'Brien returns from illness but may only feature on the bench. Ricardo Gardner is out with a hamstring problem.

Possible Man City line up: Given, Richards, Onuoha, Dunne, Bridge, De Jong, Kompany, Elano, Ireland, Robinho, Caicedo.

Possible Bolton line up: Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Cahill, Shittu, Samuel, K Davies, Muamba, Cohen, McCann, Taylor, Elmander.

My prediction: Man City 5 - 1 Bolton Wanderers.

Worth a bet: City win 5 - 0 or 5 - 1 and, or 5 - 1 with a De Jong goal.

Tottenham Hotspur 2 - 1 Man City (Defoe 29', Bojinov 65', Keane pen 86')

No fight, no desire, no conviction and no Europa league next season, our destiny was in our own hands and we have let it slip through our fingers.

We started off slow today and were punished after 29 minutes, Jermaine Defoe directing the ball home for the home team. We came out much stronger in the second half and Bojinov deservedly pulled us level with a superbly taken goal. In my view the game was stolen from us when the referee awarded Spurs a penalty that never was, Robbie Keane stepped up to slot the ball home.

As I said we started off slow today and were rightly losing when going into the break, I said that we need more fight in our game and we didn't get any. In the second half we played much better and deserved our goal but we still had no bite in our play. I was really glad to see Hughes make the double substitution of Bojinov and Benjani today, it has took him until the second to last game of the season to make this kind of change, he should have been doing it all season because it payed off.

This was really frustrating to watch today if we would have played better in the first half then the game was ours for the taking, we made Spurs look a lot better than they are. I don't know why we didn't go out on the pitch motivated for 9o minutes of hard work, but we didn't and now our dreams of more European football are gone.

There isn't much else to say it was quite straight forward, we lost another away game because we play in a totally opposite way to the way we play at home. If we are to improve away from home next season then we have some big changes to make, away from home we look scared to attack teams and almost choose to play in a negative manner. It's unexplainable really and I bet if you ask Hughes then he wouldn't have an answer as to why we play so bad away from home.

As you can probably tell I am quite disappointed not just with our performance but with some of the dubious officiating. This draining season is coming to an end now, so lets just look forward to the last home game of the season and hope that City send us away with something to smile about during the off season.

Tottenham Hotspur vs Man City - Sat 16Th May 15:00 pm

Another away game, can't they just let us play all our games at home? Seriously though we have a huge challenge ahead of us when we arrive at White Hart Lane, we can not afford to lose if we want 7Th spot.

PALACIOS: Before I start with the preview, Wilson Palacios will miss the game against us, although from a football point of view it is good for City due to how much of a good player he is, it was due to a tradegy that he misses the game. Wilson is back home with his family because his brother was murdered. I send my best wishes and also on behalf of all City fans out to Wilson and his family during this tough time, I hope he fully recovers from this terrible tradegy and is back at his best next season for Spurs.

Tomorrows game has the making of a really good game of football, I feel that City and Spurs are at a similar standard. We can both be inconsistent and then the flip side is we can both be great to watch. The revival at Spurs has seen them into 8Th place in the league and one point above City, they will prove a tough test for us in a game that is a must win for both teams.

I am quite nervous about this game, it is a really important game and although it pains me to say, normally we mess up at the times when we really can't afford to. As always I am not worried about our quality and would have our squad over Tottenham's, the thing is having that quality is no good when you don't have an ounce of fight in you. We only really have Zabaleta who gives us that fight within our team, De Jong also has it in his game but not consistently. I just feel that we don't unsettle teams well enough, we need to start getting in the oppositions faces more and the odd kick now and again wouldn't hurt.

The player that I think can win the game for us tomorrow is our main man, Stephen Ireland. He was quite well marshalled last weekend but I don't think Spurs will be able to have the same effect on him. Ireland has been responsible for a lot of our good performances this season and I am hoping that there is room on his shoulders to carry us through the last two games of the season. I think if he is on form tomorrow then we can win, opposition midfielders can simply not handle his midfield runs, his passing ability or his work rate, I think he also surprises a lot of people because he can tackle as well.

City team news:
Robinho (groin) is out, Bellamy is still out with a knee injury. Sturridge doesn't look to have got over his hip injury, Benjani has been back in training but isn't expected to feature in the squad. Wright-Phillips may return to the squad after being out with a knee injury.

Tottenham team news:
Benoit Assou-Ekotto could make a comeback after being out with a foot injury, Jamie O'Hara misses out having just had an operation on his knee and Darren Bent and Michael Dawson are still out injured. Aaron Lennon is struggling with a groin problem and as stated Wilson Palacios will miss the game.

Possible Man City line up: Given, Richards, Onuoha, Dunne, Bridge, De Jong, Kompany, Elano, Ireland, Petrov, Caicedo.

Possible Tottenham line up: Gomes, Corluka, Woodgate, King, Assou-Ekotto, Jenas, Huddlestone, Zokora, Modric, Keane, Defoe.

My prediction: Tottenham 1 - 2 Man City.

Worth a bet: Petrov scores in a 2 -1 City win.

Man Utd 2 - 0 Man City (Ronaldo 18', Tevez 45')

Beaten away from home again, a bit different this time though we were playing Man Utd at Old Trafford after all.

City started off brightly today and we were comfortable for the first 20 minutes or so, though we were knocked out of our stride a bit when Utd scored. Utd were awarded a free kick after Stephen Ireland made a good tackle on Berbatov, for me never a foul, Ronaldo stepped up to take it the the ball deflecting off De Jong and into the net. City were still not playing badly as such but Utd still managed to score a second goal, Tevez with an individual effort doubled Utd's lead.

It isn't hard to dissect our performance today, we played ok today and at least didn't disgrace ourselves, we did however let ourselves down when it came to doing the basics. We gave the ball away far to much and were not picking up the loose balls, when we went forward we posed no threat and continuously over played the ball when we just needed someone to go direct instead of knocking it around.

When you play a team as good as Man Utd it is hard to find to much fault because of how good your opponents are, there was one thing though I was particularly unhappy about today. I didn't think we got anywhere close to the passion level we should have reached, there was no conviction in our play, I expect blood sweat and tears when you put on that shirt in a game that is so important to the people that pay your wages. If the truth is known then we shown Utd to much respect and were not nasty enough, people do things different ways but I think that you have to kick teams like Utd all over the pitch to help stop them.

I was also disappointed with certain players and the manager today, Elano was disgraceful and Hughes should have replaced him at half time as he wasn't effecting the game what so ever. The Brazilian International as he refers to himself was dreadful in every department, his passing was particularly bad and I think that if Wright-Phillips is fit for the next game then Elano only has himself to blame if he is dropped.

There was two players that really stood out for us today and they were Richard Dunne and Nedum Onuoha, they were both fantastic and were the only two in my opinion that did wear our shirt with pride today. Dunney and Nedum were immense today and when you think about it kept Utd very quiet, they were both playing with passion and pride today. Their tackling, tracking back, positioning and even passing were all excellent today, their performance just reminded you that Dunney will never let you down when you need him as always and that Nedum is a true City lad who will be our Mr reliant for many years to come.

I hope that there isn't to many distraught City fans tonight, Utd are just better than us it is that simple, I mean it can't be bad when you can take Ronaldo off and bring Rooney on. It is exactly what we must aspire to, keep faith because our time will come again very soon you can bank on that.

To finish off I am not a bad loser so I just want to say that I hope the Man Utd fans are having safe journeys home to London and Ireland.

Man Utd vs Man City - Sun 10Th May 13:30 pm

Another away game in our quest for 7Th place, we are in good form and go to Old Trafford believing that we can get a result.

When it comes around to derby day a lot of people say that it is strange that I don't seem to hate Utd much even though I am a massive blue. The truth is that I don't have a care in the world about what United are up to and never have, to me they are just another team and the day I do start to care if they are winning or losing trophies that's when I will be worried, there is only one team I am interested in and that is Manchester City.

So its derby day but for me that is not the most important thing, I don't care about beating United because it is United but because we need three points to help us move up to 7Th place.

Nearly everyone has already got us down as beaten and there is a good possibility that will be the case but I think we deserve more respect than that, if the Man Utd players are in the same mindset and already think its a win in the bag, then they might get a shock.

We should have a lot of confidence at the moment and even more confidence in the fact that it is possible for us to win at Old Trafford, something we proved with our heroic win last season. Obviously United are a great side and to beat them at home twice in a row is a hell of a hard task, but achievable. City will really want to make it five wins in a row, get a win against our rivals and take those three points so we can push for Europe, so I don't think anyone can afford to take us lightly.

In the build up to the Everton game I said that we will need to work hard to beat them and I think the same goes for this game. We have to unsettle United, be on top of them at every possible moment and give them a dig or two. Basics will also be very important tomorrow, we must not give the ball away because against United that is suicide, we must also be the first to every loose ball and win every 50/50, if we do these things then I think we are half way to a result. The other half will need to come from our attacking ability and individual talent, we can score goals against any team in this league when we get our attacking right so tomorrow the likes of Robinho, Ireland and Elano will be more than important to us.

I am hoping Elano in particular is in good form tomorrow because when he plays well our team can score goals, as well as hoping he is in good form I am expecting him to be, he has had a good run in the side now and there isn't a better time for him to hit his peak than tomorrow.

Now although we do need our attackers in form I personally think that our most important players for the game against Man Utd could be De Jong and Kompany, the job they do is so important to our team. They don't hit the headlines as much as the likes of Ireland and Robinho but that's because the job they do is done so discreetly. They will be very important if we are to shut down United's main threat their midfield, if we stop their creators then we stop Man Utd. De Jong is also handy to have around when you need someone to give the opposition a dig, I am also hoping Zabaleta will play because he can dish it out a bit too.

Whatever the result tomorrow we can't lose really, if we win of course we will be ecstatic but if we lose at least we will be losing City fans and being a City fan and not a rag fan from the swamp is the main thing.

City team news:
Wright-Phillips is still struggling with a knee injury and will face a late fitness test. Sturridge (hip) is expected to miss out and Bellamy is definitely out with a knee injury. Zabaleta should return to the team after being out with a hamstring injury. Benjani has joined in on some training this week but isn't expected to make the squad.

Man United team news:
Gary Neville returns to the team after being out with a foot injury, Wes Brown hasn't had the same luck, his foot injury is keeping him on the sideline. Carlos Tevez, Dimitar Berbatov and Paul Scholes are all pushing for a start after only making the bench in midweek.

Possible Man City line up: Given, Richards, Onuoha, Dunne, Bridge, De Jong, Kompany, Elano, Ireland, Robinho, Caicedo.

Possible Man Utd line up: Van der Sar, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Giggs, Fletcher, Scholes, Rooney, Ronaldo, Berbatov.

My Prediction: Man Utd 1 - 3 Man City.

Worth a bet: Ireland or Elano score the first goal in a City win.

Man City 3 - 1 Blackburn Rovers (Caicedo 27' Robinho 34' Elano 45'(pen), Andrews 66')

I knew we would win today, we weren't amazing but luckily for us Blackburn were a very poor side, either way another important three points for us.

We started slow today and Blackburn had a lot of the ball in the opening minutes of the game and surprisingly to me they were knocking it around quite well. Once we settled a little the game became more even, City were not at their best and were probably edging being the better of two poor teams. City went ahead through a close range Felipe Caicedo goal, Robinho then added a second with a nicely placed finish and our third was scored by Elano from the penalty spot after Gael Givet was penalised for hand ball. Blackburn also scored from the penalty spot. Diouf had the initial penalty saved, unfortunately after some great goalkeeping from Shay Given, Keith Andrews managed to put the loose ball in the back of the net.

I was a bit disappointed with our performance today particularly the first half showing, we could of really battered a very poor team but our players did not take the chance and strolled through the first half. The second half was better, we stretched them at the back more and looked a little more like our usual attacking self. There isn't really anymore detail to go into about the performance today, we weren't terrible but at the same time we didn't play anywhere close to our ability levels and will not get away with playing like that against better teams. There is a straight forward conclusion, we need to be much better than we were today in our remaining games if we are to grab 7Th place.

I did pick out some positives in relation to certain players performances from today's game. Firstly the job that Kompany and De Jong did today was really good, they go about what they do in a very quiet but very effective manner. I don't think people who aren't City fans realise how good these two guys are when you talk about them, the way they quietly go around the pitch picking pockets and disrupting the oppositions play is class, Hughes certainly made two fantastic signings when he brought them in. The other player I was really impressed with today was Wayne Bridge, his defending seemed to have improved by 200% over night. He was intercepting, tackling, his positioning was a hell of a lot better and his forward runs were excellent. I have been a big critic of his but for good reason, I hope he continues to play as well as he did today because it will be a welcome boost to our charge for 7Th.

To round up, we didn't play our best, we took three points and the race for 7Th is still on. They say its the sign of a good team to win when playing badly, hopefully the bad performance is behind us and we will be at our very best next week.

Man City vs Blackburn Rovers - Sat 2nd May 15:00 pm

Blackburn next and considering our form at the moment particularly our home form, this should be a home win. Blackburn are fighting for their lives though and will not give us an easy game.

After our wonderful win and performance at Everton, this game is a must win. If we do win this game it will really set us up for our last ditch attempt at finishing 7Th, it will also give the team even more confidence ahead of a certain away match.

I was really happy with our win at Everton, most importantly we came away with three points but the players application also seemed spot on. I am sure that if we play in the same way on Saturday then Blackburn are in for a beating and maybe even a hammering.

Without tempting fate I feel really confident about this game and I am not that nervous. I think the win against Everton has given me most of that confidence, for a change in an away game we saw City go and run the game and dictate play, we even kept our shape!

I am definitely expecting an easy victory tomorrow, the only thing I think we have to worry about is Christopher Samba playing up front because we dont really deal with aerial threats to well. At the same time though I expect the ball to be in their half for the majority of the game so Samba shouldn't be a problem.

City team news:
Bellamy (knee), Zabaleta (hamstring), Sturridge (hip) and Wright-Phillips (ankle) all miss out with injury. Micah Richards should be fit after coming off injured against Everton. After good performances for the reserves Bojinov and Petrov are expected to be in the squad.

Blackburn Rovers team news:
David Dunn (Achilles), Roque Santa Cruz (knee) and Jason Roberts (fractured metatarsal) will all be missing for the away team.

Possible Man City line up: Given, Richards, Onuoha, Dunne, Bridge, De Jong, Kompany, Elano, Ireland, Robinho, Caicedo.

Possible Blackburn Rovers line up: Robinson, Ooijer, Nelsen, Givet, Warnock, Diouf, Grella, Tugay, Pedersen, Samba, McCarthy.

My prediction: Man City 4 - 0 Blackburn Rovers

Worth a bet: Caicedo, Robinho and Ireland all score in a
4 - 0 City win, a 3 - 0 score line to back up the 4 - 0 might be worth having.

Everton 1 - 2 Man City (Robinho 35' Ireland 54', Gosling 90')

If you watched us today you would never have guessed that we have struggled away from home this season, we played well today and beat a very good Everton team.

City's first goal came when a superb pass by Elano was picked up by Robinho who then put the ball through Tim Howard's legs and into the back of the net. We made it two nil when goal scorer turned provider, Robinho putting Ireland through to slot the ball home. Dan Gosling pulled one back for Everton late on but it wasn't enough and City won the game.

We had a fantastic win today and proved a lot of people wrong, almost everyone had us down to lose. There is certain people that will get picked out from our win today particularly Robinho and Elano who were both fantastic, I wanted to praise our whole team though. I think as a team we were much better today, we kept our shape, we held the ball, we worked hard and we didn't give up.

I don't want to make it sound like we were better than we were today, but there was never really a point in the game where I was worried about Everton scoring. When Everton had possession today our team seemed very comfortable in letting them have it, City gave you the feeling that they were in total control and it was probably the least nervous I have been whilst watching City all season.

Now I have to mention Robinho and Elano, these two players are different class when on form, today they were both big reasons why we won the game. Robinho was playing with confidence and had the Everton defence rattled, any time he was near the ball he would pull at least two Everton players towards him, his goal and assist were well deserved. As for Elano he seems to be getting his act together, he hasn't been close to the Elano that we seen give us dazzling performances last season, but that looks like it might be changing. A hard working display was topped off by a wonderful ball to send Robinho on his way to scoring a goal.

I also have to give credit to two other people from today's game. First of all I have to say Mark Hughes got everything right today, his tactics were spot on and I think by asking Elano to drop back and cover the right back position after Richards went off injured showed that he isn't afraid to make bold decisions. Another man from today's game who deserves some praise is Wayne Bridge. If you read my blog regularly you will know that I am not a fan of his because of how poor he has been, but I am not one to get on someones back for the sake of it and I have to say that he played very well today. His defending was much much better and going forward he is getting more confident as games go by, he also made a couple of important interceptions today and was for the first time an asset to our team, I hope it continues.

Lets hope that we can keep up the good form and maybe just maybe we will snatch 7Th place.

Everton vs Man City - Sat 25Th Apr 15:00pm

City face the tough task of going to Goodison Park this weekend and in an ideal world need to come away from the game with at least a point.

With us still chasing 7Th place Goodison Park is not a preferred destination at the moment. Everton are certainly in the running for the best team I have seen come to Eastlands this season, so for City to come away from Goodison Park with a result will be difficult.

If you have watched Everton this season then you will know that they are a very very good team and if we are to get anything from the game I think we will have to focus on work rate. Everton work very hard and we will have to at the very least match them in that department, if we don't then as far as I'm concerned it is certain defeat.

We will also need someone to stand up and lead us and organise us against Everton. I think a big reason for our poor defending lately is that there is nobody constantly organising the team, Dunney should be the man leading by example but he just doesn't do it. At the same time though good teams are built on teams of people who want to take control, so it would be nice to see a few other members of our team open their mouths.

Ever the optimist, I do believe if we put the work in that we can get at least a draw from this game. I know that all season we have all been saying City have the quality to win these kind of games and it might be getting boring to hear, but it is true. I don't think it would be wise to underestimate what we are capable of, when we attack in full flow there is not many better than us in the league. I think if we can find that balance between hard work and good attacking football tomorrow, then we could come away from Goodison Park happy enough.

City team news:
Bellamy (knee), Wright-Phillips (ankle) and Zabaleta (hamstring) are all definitely out of the game. Nigel De Jong hasn't trained all week due to a thigh injury and a decision on whether he is fit enough to play will be made on the day of the game. Bojinov is expected to return to the squad after playing for the reserves in midweek, Micheal Johnson is also in contention after he also played for the reserves in midweek.

Everton team news:
Tony Hibbert, Phil Jagielka and Marouane Fellaini all look set to return to the starting line up after being rested in midweek. James Vaughan and Louis Saha are both in contention to start up front for Everton, with Jo not being allowed to play against his parent club.

Possible Man City line up: Given, Richards, Onuoha, Dunne, Bridge, De Jong, Kompany, Ireland, Elano, Robinho, Caicedo.

Possible Everton line up: Howard, Hibbert, Jagielka, Lescott, Baines, Osman, Neville, Fellaini, Pienaar, Cahill, Vaughan.

My prediction: Everton 0 - 0 Man City

Worth a bet: The game finishes a 0 - 0 draw, a 1 - 0 City win is also well worth a bet at 9/1.

Man City 4 - 2 West Brom (Robinho 8' Onuoha 21' Elano 56'(pen) Sturridge 90', Brunt 37',54')

With the Sun beating down on Eastlands City thought they would make us sweat a bit more, they set about winning the game the hard way.

We started off ok today nothing spectacular but we were playing good enough, after taking the lead through a Robinho volley and then an Onuoha header in the first 21 minutes we began to take it easy. The team were very laid back and didn't seem to have anything to worry about but as soon as the game went to 2 - 1 the team totally fell apart, we lost our shape and West Brom were taking advantage of us. Not long into the second half West Brom scored again to level things up and they probably deserved it as well, luckily Elano managed to win a penalty and then went on to score it to make it 3 - 2. The game was finished off by a Daniel Sturridge goal in the closing stages.

The score line from today's game will look good on paper but City scoring four goals is not a fair reflection on how we or West Brom played. We were treating the game like a training session after we went 2 up but as soon as West Brom got a goal back we were at panic stations, I understand that they might have been worried about a good attacking West Brom team getting an equaliser, but for professionals to fall apart the way they did was pathetic.

I knew West Brom could give us problems after seeing them in other games, they were very well set up and strong in midfield, its hard to see why they haven't picked up more points. Of course we made them look slightly better than they are today, we left ourselves wide open on the flanks and they were constantly exploiting us, why it wasn't changed to stop it happening is beyond me.

Our defence has been a big problem for us lately Bridge and dare I say it Dunne have been shocking, they are both players with quality but for some reason they are not showing us what they are made of. Where there is bad we have good as well, Nedum Onuoha is an absolute star for us at the moment. He is such a calming influence at the back and if he wasn't playing we would be in big trouble, surely his form will be rewarded with a senior England call up very soon.

I will try to look on the bright side of a bad performance, we got three points, the threat of relegation has surely gone, there is still a possibility of qualifying for Europe and Robinho scored his first goal of 2009.

Just a quick mention about the atmosphere today, where did it go?

Man City vs West Brom - Sun 19Th Apr 15:00 pm

Next to visit Eastlands is West Brom, although its unlikely they will escape relegation I am sure they will keep fighting to the end and will pose a threat to us tomorrow. If City don't win we could find ourselves in our own relegation battle.

This is quite a big game for us tomorrow, if we don't win we are going to have the threat of relegation hanging over us, never mind the fact that we will have no chance of making Europe. Honestly though I can't see us doing anything but winning, West Brom are not a terribly bad team but I think we are so so much better than them, if we don't win then it could really make our owners have a serious think about what action they will take come the end of the season.

Hughes has been blaming poor performances on fatigue lately and quite frankly the team wasn't playing well enough to be feeling tired, saying that after all the effort they put in against Hamburg it is a big possibility they might be feeling some strain now. I hope that is not the case though because we really need to stay in good form and make a really big push going into the last few games of the season, especially considering our hopes of 7Th place are seriously hanging by a thread.

It is going to be slightly interesting to see what team Hughes puts out tomorrow, I think we would all like to see two up front but I doubt Hughes will do that. It is beyond me why he won't play two up front but he seems to like having only one up top. If he is relying on Caicedo to be a target man that is not going to happen, he likes the ball at his feet and because Hughes uses him the way he does, Caicedo is receiving some undeserved flack from the fans. One player we are surely going to see tomorrow is Elano, he was different class against Hamburg and must have earned himself a second consecutive start, if he doesn't start the game that would be another strange decision. Someone I am hoping not to see play is Wayne Bridge he just isn't good enough, I didn't point it out on my post match after the Hamburg game because it would have been unfair, but what was he doing for their goal. As well as his obvious lack of ability he doesn't look interested most of the time and I think he should be dropped.

Instead of letting them gather dust why not bring the flags and bananas back to Eastlands tomorrow and try to make the atmosphere we created against Hamburg a regular thing.

City team news:
Bellamy is expected to miss out with a knee injury. Wright-Phillips may return from an ankle injury and De Jong and Bojinov should return to the squad after being ineligible for the Uefa Cup. Zabaleta may miss out after picking up a knock against Hamburg, Kompany may be rested after playing through injury on Thursday.

West Brom team news:
Shelton Martis is out with a groin injury but Gianni Zuiverloon seems to have recovered from a minor injury. Roman Bednar is hoping that he has shaken off a hamstring injury in time to make the squad.

Possible Man City line up: Given, Richards, Onuoha, Dunne, Bridge, De Jong, Wright-Phillips, Ireland, Elano, Robinho, Caicedo.

Possible West Brom line up: Carson, Zuiverloon, Meite, Olsson, Robinson, Morrison, Greening, Koren, Dorrans, Brunt, Fortune.

My prediction: Man City 3 - 0 West Brom.

Worth a bet: Elano and Robinho score in a 3 - 0 City win.

Disgrace!

Man City 1 - 3 Fulham ( Ireland 28', Dempsey 50', 83', Etuhu 59')

First of all I am sorry that my post match is later than normal, but yesterday I was so angry that there would have been a big possibility that I may have said some bad things in temper.

We started yesterdays game very flat and to quote a favoured word of Hughes we didn't look one bit dynamic enough. When we went ahead, although we were not playing very well we were comfortable enough. Thankfully we went into the break leading, now I can only guess that Hughes's halftime team talk consisted of him telling our players Fulham were going to come and play at us and try to get a goal, I then think he must of followed that up by telling our players to let them do that, because that is what happened.

Fulham are a good team that's for sure, but getting beaten and letting yourself get beaten are two different things. Our team didn't look like they were bothered if they win or lose, we keep hearing all the right things being said after a poor performance but we never see any action taken to rectify these things and now it is starting to wear thin.

Yesterday's game has turned a lot of fans against Hughes and I think it is more than deserved at the moment. He does something good and then cancels it out by doing something stupid, for example yesterday I was quite pleased to see Kelvin Etuhu starting, he was rubbish but I am a big believer in replacing players like for like, I hate to see us plug gaps by playing people out of position, something we like to do a lot. He then follows that up with a poor decision, only playing one up front at home all the time is not acceptable, you just can not play that negative all the time and that was one major difference between us and Fulham, they had two strikers constantly troubling our defence.

I still feel Hughes can be the man to build a good strong squad but he needs to stop these stupid things he does. Dropping Robinho did not come off for him yesterday, I think a lot of people realised what he does do for our team, because we missed him. There was nobody dropping off and picking the ball up, something that Robinho does regularly, he also brings invention and movement, he is even adding work rate to his game lately. I think that because he hasn't scored for a while that we were getting distracted away from his other qualities.

To finish off I want to talk about Garrido, Garrido has looked dodgy in his last few appearances lately and I have said it is because he just needed to get back into the swing of things, that seems to have been the case going off yesterdays performance. I thought he was really good and is clearly a better left back than Wayne Bridge, his defending is better, he reads the game better, he is better going forward and he is quicker. Garrido should never have been dropped in the first place for Bridge he was just coming in to his own when Hughes decided to replace him, I hope he carries on playing well and keeps Wayne Bridge out of the team because I don't think Bridge is good enough.

Lets look forward to the Hamburg game now, maybe we have got our recent run of bad performances out of the way and we will stuff Hamburg, well we can all dream can't we?

Man City vs Fulham - Sun 12Th Apr 16:10pm

Our second big game in the space of a week sees us entertain Fulham at Eastlands, if we are to make a push for 7Th place this game is a must win.

We go into this game with two possibilities of making the Europa league next season, if we are to keep the option of qualification through the league open, this is surely a must win.

This game for me is an absolute must win, if we don't win it I think we should wave bye bye to the possibility of playing in Europe next season, via the league at least. I know we have a lot of injuries at the moment but we come up against a Fulham team that is as bad as us away from home, having won one away game all season.

This will be a tough game for us I have watched Fulham enough to know that they are a good side, if we take them to lightly we may be sorry. Although it should be a tough game I am not worried to much and think we should be able to beat Fulham, we all know how good we are at home and I really expect that theme to carry on today.

I have no proper idea what kind of team we will put out against Fulham, but I do know who I don't want to see start the game. Sturridge is definitely someone that doesn't deserve to start after being very poor against Hamburg. He was sloppy and didn't show us any work rate what so ever and for someone asking for a massive contract that isn't good enough, I am hoping to see Bojinov start. I would also love to see Petrov start today and well a start might be to much to soon, I hope to see him for at least 45 minutes.

If Petrov does start today it could be one of the most balanced midfield's we have fielded all season, providing injuries don't get in the way. We could possibly see us start with two wingers in Petrov and SWP, a creative mid in Ireland and then De Jong as our holding midfielder, sounds good to me and it is also a definite option for Hughes. I do think it would be a perfect line up and it would also be a good way of playing Petrov and Robinho together, by giving Robinho a free role across the front behind the striker and having Petrov on the wing, it could prove effective.

City team news:
Benjani (thigh), Bellamy (knee) and Wayne Bridge (hamstring) are all likely to miss out, although Bridge is still in with a slight chance of playing. Shaun Wright-Phillips is carrying an ankle injury and Vincent Kompany is carrying a hamstring injury, a decision on the fitness of both players will be made on the day of the game. De Jong returns to the squad after being ineligible for the Uefa Cup and Martin Petrov is back in the squad for a league game for the first time in a while, after a long lay off with injury.

Fulham team news:
Both Zoltan Gera (foot) and Toni Kallio (virus) have not trained all week but Roy Hodgson expects them to both be fit for the game at Eastlands.

Possible Man City line up: Given, Richards, Onuoha, Dunne, Garrido, Wright-Phillips, Petrov, De Jong, Ireland, Robinho, Bojinov.

Possible Fulham line up: Schwarzer, Hughes, Hangeland, Pantsil, Konchesky, Murphy, Davies, Etuhu, Johnson, Zamora, Dempsey.

My prediction: Man City 2 - 0 Fulham.

Worth a bet: Robinho scores in a 2 - 0 City win.

Arsenal 2 - 0 Man City ( Adebayor 8', 49')

So an away game and an away defeat, I think we are used to it now, aren't we?

Today's game looked more or less over after Adebayor scored in the 8Th minute, on Grand National day City just didn't look like they were at the races.

Where do I start, the summary of this performance is the same as after any other away game, poor. We approached the game really negatively and didn't look up for the game from the first whistle.

Arsenal's first goal came when a free kick was delivered into our box, our defence left Adebayor all alone to head home. Arsenal's second goal was also poor defending on our behalf, Adebayor again being allowed way to much space before putting the ball in the back of the net.

I have to start by questioning Hughes I think. First of all why on earth did Wayne Bridge and Vincent Kompany start the game? They couldn't have been fit, Bridge on only lasted 17 minutes and Kompany only lasted 38 minutes. Not only that but when he had to make the changes, I felt he made the wrong ones. Gelson Fernandes was brought on for Bridge and although he had one of his more composed games, I thought that considering the game was flat and we weren't creating anything, Elano should have come on for Bridge. Kompany then makes way and Elano is finally put on the field, I felt if Elano had previously been brought on that we could have put a striker on for Kompany. It was all to negative for my liking, Hughes had been talking about our attacking threat this week yet he doesn't make us play attacking football away from home,why isn't he just sending us out to do what we do best, which is counter attacking football.

We looked tired today and maybe the International break took its toll a little but not enough to make them play with no passion. I think the trend in our squad seems to be if one player is playing bad another one takes it easy and so on, they can't all be having a bad day on the same day every away day, can they? - That was not supposed to be a Cat in the Hat inspired piece -

Of all the quality we have in our squad there is one player in our team that has really been bugging me lately and that is Shaun Wright-Phillips, he is so frustrating. He has bags and bags full of ability but he just isn't churning out these exciting attacking performances that we know he is capable of. When I watch him I see the Shaun Wright-Phillips that played for Chelsea creeping in a lot of the time, he gets the ball and moves it on instead of doing what he does best. I'm not getting on his back I just want the real SWP to come out of his shell, which will mean getting rid of the style he has picked up at Chelsea.

I thought a good thing to take from today's game was Robinho's performance, he didn't do anything spectacular but his commitment could not be questioned today. He tried his best to get back and help out and was making tackles at every opportunity, he was obviously determined to prove people wrong. Honestly it was quite pleasing to see and it was a really encouraging sign, I just hope he keeps stepping it up each week from now on.

All in all I think Hughes approached the game in the wrong way today and chose the wrong personnel, I hope that we can get our heads up in time for the Hamburg game and that Kompany and Bridge are not to badly injured so that they can play against the Germans.

Arsenal vs Man City - Sat 4Th Apr 15:00 pm

After an International break the Premier League is back with a bang for City, with a tough game away to Arsenal up next for the blues.

I am hoping that we will go to Arsenal with the belief that we can win. It will be difficult to get a win though, Arsenal are unbeaten in 16 league games. The last time they were beaten though was when City gave them a masterclass at Eastlands, I am hoping we might have some sort of psychological edge over them.

This could be a really interesting game today, both teams like to play attacking football. I hope we sit back and wait for them to come at us, kind of like we set out to do against Aalborg away, this time I just hope we don't end up sitting far to deep. I think with the defencive capabilities in our midfield we should have enough to shut Arsenal's attack down, then with our attacking quality we will hopefully be able to counter attack.

I am not sure what team Hughes will pick tomorrow, if Bellamy is injured I would love to see Hughes play all three of our defensive midfielders with SWP, Ireland and then Robinho as a lone front man. That is quite a strange team to pick but I feel it could work and would love to see how Robinho handles the burden of playing down the middle on his own, maybe it is time to see if he can really stand up and be counted. I also think with Kompany, Zabaleta and De Jong in our midfield that we wouldn't have to worry about Arsenal's midfield to much, then with Ireland, Robinho and SWP attacking Arsenal's defence which can be calamitous at times, I think that we could break them down.

City team news:
Bellamy is likely to miss out after aggravating his knee injury whilst on International duty. Wayne Bridge should be fit after being out with a hamstring injury and Robinho should also be available despite picking up a knock while playing for Brazil. Valeri Bojinov picked up a knock when he was training with Bulgaria but should make the squad. Michael Johnson, Martin Petrov and Didi Hamann are all on the comeback trail but will not be ready to face Arsenal. Daniel Sturridge and Benjani are also returning to fitness and whilst they are still doubtful, there is a chance the pair may be available for the game at the Emirates. Update, it has been confirmed this morning that Stephen Ireland is likely to miss the game with an ankle injury.

Arsenal team news:
Robin Van Persie misses out with a groin injury picked up while he was away with Holland, Abou Diaby is struggling with a thigh injury and Eduardo picked up a groin injury on International duty. Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott return after knee injuries, Emmanuel Adebayor is back after a hamstring injury and Mikael Silvestre has recovered from a calf injury. Nicklas Bendtner is a doubt having picked up a knee injury and will face a late decision on his fitness, Samir Nasri has a virus and should miss out and Carlos Vela may be rested after only getting back from International duty late on Friday. Tomas Rosicky is still recovering from long term injury.

Possible Man City line up: Given, Richards, Dunne, Onuoha, Bridge, Zabaleta, De Jong, Kompany, Wright-Phillips, Robinho, Caicedo.

Possible Arsenal line up: Almunia, Sagna, Toure, Gallas, Clichy, Walcott, Fabregas, Denilson, Arshavin, Bendtner, Adebayor.

My prediction: Arsenal 0 - 1 Man City

Worth a bet: I have a feeling about our scorer so here goes..... De Jong scores in a 0 -1 City win.

Man City 1 - 0 Sunderland (McCartney s/o 15', Richards 56')

It took a rare Micah Richards goal to secure all three points against Sunderland, we made hard work of what should have been an easy victory.

Our current team certainly like to go about things in a dramatic manner, they kept us biting our nails for ninety minutes yet again today. We started off quite well today and it looked like we were going to breeze through the game, it didn't quite pan out like that.

There was a few important flash points today that could have changed the game. There were two big misses today, from two players I said in my pre match need to do better. First Shaun Wright-Phillips missed a glorious chance after going through on goal, then after Micah Richards was brought down by Malbranque in the box, Robinho missed a penalty in horrible fashion. Something that went for us today was Sunderland going down to ten men after fifteen minutes, George McCartney was shown a red for tugging back Shaun Wright-Phillips.

After all the early drama a goal was scored and we could slightly calm our nerves. A rejuvenated Micah Richards headed home from inside the box after Elano whipped in a good free kick. Micah Richards really deserved his goal today, he played fantastic and was probably our best player. He hasn't played to the high standards we have come to expect from him for a lot of this season, but in the last few games it seems like he has got his confidence back and it is proving beneficial to the team.

Along with Richards we had another couple of players that played well today. Nedum Onuoha was great again and is becoming a major part of our team, after seeing some of the rubbish called into the England squad, I am surprised Nedum didn't get a look in considering how good he has been playing. I also thought Nigel De Jong was very good today, he is excellent at breaking up the play in the midfield, isn't scared of a tackle and very very rarely gives the ball away when he is in possession. Last but not least I thought Bojinov put in a good performance up front, his movement is very good, he is strong, he can find a pass, he can shoot and he works very hard. I just hope he can stay fit and continue to impress.

It was another frustrating performance today from City, we weren't particularly bad but we should have cruised through the game, Sunderland were a poor team. Main aim was completed though, an important three points in the bag and hopefully a catalyst to push for that 7Th place.