Man City vs Norwich City - Sat 2nd Nov 15:00 pm

Norwich City are our next opponents at the Etihad, it seems like an eternity since we last played at home, hopefully home comforts will play a part against Norwich.

So our opponents, Norwich currently sit 18th in the table and have conceded quite a lot of goals lately, surely this game will be a walk in the park? Well actually not necessarily, I do expect us to beat Norwich but it may not be as easy as their position and results suggest.

For starters 18th can quickly turn in to 9th with three points, so their position in the table is quite irrelevant at the moment and the goals they have conceded have been against Chelsea, Arsenal and Utd, in games where I actually thought Norwich looked a good side.
Particularly against Chelsea I thought Norwich were going to win the game at times, they passed it well in the Chelsea half and were trying to get the ball in the box at every opportunity, they work hard and look an all round good unit.

Having covered my bases in relation to Norwich being able to cause us problems, which I honestly believe they are capable of, I still think we will comfortably beat them. We are on a good run of form at the moment, we have won four of our last five games and when we did get beat by Chelsea it was undeserved considering the way we performed.

It is important that we keep this good form going, if we drop anymore silly points we could end up trailing the league leaders by 8 or 9 points in the blink of an eye and at such an early stage in the season that would leave us playing catch up for a while.

Man City Team News:
We are likely to be missing Stevan Jovetic who suffered a calf injury against Newcastle, Vincent Kompany is expected to miss out again having not fully recovered from a thigh strain.

Norwich City Team News:
Robert Snodgrass suffered concussion against Utd and Nathan Redmond picked up a hip injury in the same game, both are expected to under go late fitness tests. Alexander Tettey is definitely missing for Norwich with a knee ligament injury and Ricky Van Wolfswinkel (foot) and Elliot Bennett (knee) are also expected to miss out.

Possible Man City Line Up: Hart, Zabaleta, Demichelis, Nastasic, Kolarov, Toure, Fernandinho, Nasri, Silva, Aguero, Negredo.

Possible Norwich City Line Up: Ruddy, Martin, Turner, Bassong, Olsson, Howson, Fer, Johnson, Snodgrass, Hooper, Elmander.

My Prediction: Man City 4 - 0 Norwich City.

Worth A Bet: Fernandinho scores the first goal in a 4 - 0 Man City win @ 125/1.

Newcastle United 0 - 2 Man City - *Highlights* Leicester drawn in the next round

Goals from Negredo and Dzeko in extra time were enough to secure victory at St James park, the win has set us up for an away tie to Leicester in the quarter finals.

The game was quite poor to watch tonight, we were lacking creativity and desire, we looked like we were playing a training game at times. When we did produce some good movement and passing we scored two goals and it took us until the 99th minute to do that.

As far as Newcastle are concerned they didn't put in a good performance either really and looked very unconvincing, they did create a few chances though, some were poorly executed, some well defended and some just unlucky, I would certainly understand their fans going away from the game thinking that they should have scored a couple of goals.

The best way to describe the result is 'job done', there wasn't really any positives to take away from our performance apart from maybe Pantilimon's decent showing in goal, which included one really good save to keep us in the game.

Most important thing is that we are through to the quarter finals and only a few games away from a final appearance, although to get there we will have to play a lot better than we did tonight.

Apologies for the quick post match, work beckons in the morning unfortunately.

Highlights.

Newcastle United vs Man City - Weds 30th Oct 19:45 pm

The games are coming thick and fast, our next game takes us to Newcastle to face the magpies in a league cup tie.

The league cup is generally viewed as a nothing competition these days, managers will give players that have been sitting on the bench for a while a run out and throw in the odd youngster here and there. I am half way when it comes to this because although I like to see a youngster or a fringe player coming in to an extent, I still think it should be taken seriously because any trophy is an achievement when all said and done.
Luckily for us rotation means replacing class players with more class players, so we do have the luxury of being able to rest key men, it is still important that whoever does come into the team is eager to impress because there is a quarter final of a cup beckoning.

There were easier ties that we could have been handed than a trip to St James park, however I am not overly concerned about the threat of Newcastle and I don't mean that in a disrespectful way, I just think our squad is strong enough to compete and perhaps win the game.

Tomorrows game could well see a hangover from the league, we were beaten in a game that we deserved something out of and Newcastle lost to their rivals. I am sure there will be a lot of frustration within both camps that will need to be relieved, which is what I am most worried about. Newcastle do have some really good players that can hurt teams and in front of their own fans they will want to make amends for the defeat to Sunderland, I just hope that we also want to prove a point and perform well because I really want us to win this competition.

Man City Team News:
Vincent Kompany is our only notable injury concern, he is said to be training again after suffering with a thigh injury but it is doubtful he will play a part against Newcastle.

Newcastle United Team News:
Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa is available after missing the game against Sunderland because of suspension,  Coloccini (groin) and Steven Taylor (hamstring) are doubts, Gutierrez may still be missing for the home side due to personal reasons and Ryan Taylor will miss the game after undergoing a knee operation.

Possible Man City Line Up: Pantilimon, Richards, Demichelis, Lescott, Kolarov, Milner, Navas, Fernandinho, Lopes, Dzeko, Jovetic.

Possible Newcastle United Line Up: Krul, Debuchy, Williamson, Yanga-Mbiwa, Santon, Gouffran, Cabaye, Tiote, Ben Arfa, Cisse, Remy.

My Prediction: Newcastle 1 - 3 Man City.

Worth A Bet: Stevan Jovetic scores the first goal in a 1 - 3 Man City win @ 45/1.

Chelsea 2 - 1 Man City *Goals and Highlights*

Well we have seen some bad away results this season but this has to be the worst considering the manner in which we lost, we played well today and it would have been deserved had we won the game.

I will start with the mess up that lost us the game, with the game at 1-1 a harmless ball over the top somehow ended with the ball in the back of the net. Nastasic was running on to the ball watching it come over his shoulder with Torres on his tail, as long as Hart was stood in his area the danger would be averted, for some reason Hart wasn't stood in his area. Instead Hart decided to charge out of his area towards the ball when all he had to do was stand still and wait for Nastasic to nod it back to him, Nastasic did indeed head the ball back but past the on rushing Hart, leaving Torres to run on and score.

I have heard many different opinions on who was at fault already, I am sticking the blame firmly with Hart. It was easy to see what was going to happen all he had to do is wait for Nastasic to head it back. I think the people blaming Nastasic are wrong to do so, it looks like he could of changed where he headed it when you watch it but it happens a lot quicker than that and he would of been more concerned about not missing the header whilst expecting his keeper to be waiting to receive it.

As well as that mistake I wasn't pleased with Chelsea's first goal, Clichy was beaten far too easily and it was too simple for Schurrle to trick Demichelis with his movement as well. Well I am talking about Clichy he hasn't been himself for some time now, he looks sluggish and easy to beat, he was integral when we won the title and I am a really big fan of his, I think he is a victim of rotation and I hope he returns to full form soon.

Back to the game, apart from the horrific mistake at the end, we were superb. We controlled large parts of the game and man for man we were the better team. Pellegrini made the right decision by putting extra men in midfield although he put one to many in there for me, because I think with two up top we would have had the game sewn up, that is by the by though because we did play well enough to win the game regardless of that.

We played really well as a unit today, everyone was playing for each other and out working the opposition, the midfield particularly were better than I have seen them for a long time, with the stand out performance in my opinion coming from Fernandinho. Three Brazilians were on show today and Ferna was the one that stood out, he never stopped running from front to back, he was getting stuck in and constantly cutting short Chelsea's momentum. He has been getting better and better lately and if he continues he will justify his price tag.

Then there is Sergio Aguero, apparently his weakness is his left foot, for him to play as a lone striker was a worry, what a load of rubbish! This lad is phenomenal, defence's cannot live with him, he has everything a world class striker needs and he is improving all the time, for me he is easily one of the best three strikers in the world. I would give him another new contract now because he is definitely an important part of our future.

To sum it up, we were solid today and for me we deserved at the very least a point from the game, the performance was encouraging and if we continue in this vein of form we will soon have made up the six point deficit, keep the games coming CTID.

Goals and Highlights.

Chelsea vs Man City - Sun 27th Oct 16:00 pm

Following a cold away day in Moscow, our next away trip sees us travel to London to take on fellow title contenders Chelsea at the bridge.

This is going to be a tough game for both sides tomorrow, both teams have very talented squads and both are in good form, it is going to be a testing game for us but a test that I think we can handle.

This is an important game tomorrow regardless of what Pellegrini and Mourinho have been saying, these are the games that can be the difference when it comes to winning the title. If we were to lose tomorrow then we would be 6 points off Arsenal at the top of the league, of course it wouldn't be the end of the world if that were to happen, but I also don't think that we should be allowing gaps that big to appear at any point in a season when we are challenging for the title.

I have kept a very close eye on Chelsea this season and they are a good team but I have never sat back and thought 'wow' after watching them, they are quite similar to us in the sense that I don't think they have consistently reached a top level of performance as yet.

I think where Chelsea have been better than us this season is in midfield, man for man I think we have the more gifted individuals, as a unit though Chelsea have the edge. Chelsea are a lot more organised and compact than us, usually playing with three in the middle of the park. Us on the other hand only have two in the middle, one of them (Toure) seems to have the license to roam, whilst the other (Fernandinho) is left with the task of doing the job of two players. Our midfield has been an issue for some time now and it is more recognisable when Kompany isn't playing behind them clearing things up, I think we will have to tighten things up to compete with Chelsea in this area of the pitch.

Where I think we can cause Chelsea trouble is the final third, they have big strong experienced defenders but I think they lack the pace to control our attackers. The beast that is Negredo will be able to compete in a physical battle against them, whilst Aguero and Silva buzz around causing them problems with pace and finesse.

We are on a decent run of form at the moment and confidence should be quite high, we have been playing some good football and we are steadily becoming more consistent, I still don't think that we have seen the best of us yet though. There have been times that we could of gone through the gears and hammered teams but instead we have been quite happy to win at a stroll, hopefully against Chelsea we will hit top speed and if we do, we will beat them as far as I am concerned.


Man City Team News:
Vincent Kompany was expected to return to the side according to reports last week, he has however been ruled out as he continues to recover from injury. Martin Demichelis is not expected to be risked either after recently overcoming a knee injury, however Jack Rodwell is fit again after suffering with a hamstring injury.

Chelsea Team News:
Ashley Cole is expected to return for Chelsea after being out with a rib injury, Marco van Ginkel has a long term knee injury.

Possible Man City Line Up: Hart, Zabaleta, Garcia, Nastasic, Clichy, Toure, Fernandinho, Milner, Silva, Aguero, Negredo.

Possible Chelsea Line Up: Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Cole, Oscar, Ramires, Lampard, Hazard, Torres, Eto'o.

My Prediction: Chelsea 1 - 2 Man City.

Worth A Bet: David Silva scores the first goal in a 1 - 2 Man City win @ 75/1.

CSKA Moscow 1 - 2 Man City *Goals*

A poor match on a poor pitch against a poor team was matched by a poor performance from us, we did however secure the all important three points in Moscow.

Lets start with the pitch, it was terrible and it definitely effected our game, how UEFA passed it is beyond me. Now I am not someone who thinks that the players need the luxury of the perfect pitch, I do however believe the pitch in Moscow was unplayable, particularly for a professional match at this level. The fresh lick of paint that they gave it didn't cover up the fact that it was lacking grass and that the grass it did have wasn't sown. I have qualifications which I gained just a few years ago in regard to this area of expertise and my minimally experienced eye could see that it wasn't playable, so I would love to know who the guys are that carry out the inspections.

Whilst the pitch didn't compliment our fluent style of football, it couldn't be blamed for our all round poor performance. I will start with Pellegrini's decision to play Garcia at centre half again, the lad just isn't suited to that position, he is not quick enough and does not read the game well enough to be a centre half, Pellegrini needs to give Richards his chance there because he wants it and it makes sense.

The defending was bad all round tonight, the midfield was lacking again and left us exposed, it did improve in the second half with Yaya and Ferna getting more involved but it was by no means up to the level that we expect, I think Pellegrini needs to realise that sometimes we need that extra body in the middle to pick up some of the slack.

We weren't playing a good side tonight, they were poor and as bad as we were, we still looked very comfortable at times against them. I think all things considered, the bad pitch, cold temperatures and the makeshift defenders, this was a very good result away from home. Obviously we can play much much better than we did tonight but the most important thing was the points, which just to mention were kept safe by Joe Hart who made a brilliant save right at the death.

To round up, if we can play below par and win, it will do for me. Following the victory tonight I would think that a win at home against CSKA will see us through the group stages.

Goals.

CSKA Moscow vs Man City - Wed 23rd Oct 17:00 pm

The trip to Moscow to play CSKA has been somewhat spoilt so far with news coming out suggesting that the pitch will not be playable, Pellegrini himself has made his thoughts known on the issue and his opinion is that it should be postponed.

Obviously I am hoping that the pitch is playable and we can get the game out of the way, if it isn't ready then we have made the journey to Russia ahead of a league game against Chelsea for nothing. There are various sources reporting that the pitch is in a terrible condition, so it baffles me how it passed a UEFA inspection in the first place, typical incompetence on UEFA'S part again and it just so happens that an English side is involved in their bad decision, enough said.

Right, to the game, CSKA are the current champions of Russia so they are clearly a decent team, if you were to ask me if I was at all worried about playing them though, the answer would be no!

They just don't match up to us in the slightest, if you were to pick out any danger men in their team then you would look to the over rated Keisuke Honda and their star striker (in mediocre leagues) Seydou Doumbia who has just returned from injury. They have not won a league game since the 14th of September and have drawn 1 and lost 4 since then, we should paste these regardless of what condition the pitch is in.

As far as we're concerned, we have been in good form of late and things are looking promising again, our performance against West Ham was somewhat blown up in the media as something really special, in reality it wasn't in terms of what we are capable of, we are just better than them and we shown it by strolling through the game, we have so much more to offer yet.

I am really angry at the uncertainty surrounding the game tomorrow, the fact that we are probably going to have to play in poor conditions is not good enough, both CSKA and UEFA have made this the case and I am just hoping that the players will also feel incensed and take it out on them on the pitch.

Man City Team News:
Vincent Kompany (thigh) has not travelled to Moscow, Martin Demichelis and Jack Rodwell have also stayed at home as they continue to build up their match fitness after returning from knee and hamstring injuries respectively.

CSKA Moscow Team News:
Seydou Doumbia returned from a hamstring injury for their last league game and is expected to be involved, Goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev (knee) and Alan Dzagoev (hamstring) are doubts, while Latvian midfielder Aleksandrs Cauna (toe) is likely to miss out.

Possible Man City Line Up: Hart, Zabaleta, Garcia, Nastasic, Kolarov, Toure, Fernandinho, Nasri, Silva, Aguero, Negredo.

Possible CSKA Moscow Line Up: Akinfeev, Nababkin, A.Berezutski, Ignashevich, Schennikov, Elm, Wernbloom, Tosic, Honda, Zuber, Doumbia.

My Prediction: CSKA Moscow 0 - 4 Man City.

Worth A bet: Toure scores the first goal in a 0 - 4 Man City win @ 155/1.