City should pull it off
THE champions of English football, Manchester City, should maintain their winning ways when Premier League action resumes today.
Roberto Mancini’s squad travel to the Hawthorns for a fixture against the Baggies and, while it is a tricky assignment, City should see off a team who have made an impressive start to the campaign under the stewardship of new boss Steve Clarke.
Indeed, West Brom are sixth on the log – and just a point behind the third-placed Etihad outfit.
What Mancini will probably remind his players on the way to the Hawthorns is that this West Brom side have won all four of their home games this season and those victories have come from some inspiring performances against relatively decent oppositions – Liverpool, Everton, Reading and Queens Park Rangers. Yet, despite the fact that Mancini will also be keeping one eye on the preparations for the trip to the Amsterdam Arena for their Champions League clash with Ajax Amsterdam on Wednesday, he will be aware that they must win today if they are to keep pace with Chelsea, who lead the Premiership by four points from Man United and themselves.
Injuries are always a worry for managers of teams like City, especially after international breaks, as is the case this week. However, the Citizens appear to be okay this time around, with no reported injuries and Mancini, who has been accused of tinkering a wee bit too much with his selections this term, should have most of his squad to choose from for this weekend and in Holland.
With the Ajax game looming large in a group where City have now drawn one and lost one, Mancini could be forgiven for resting a few of his star players for the visit to West Brom.
However, the defence of the Premier League title is just as important, so perhaps we can expect the Italian boss to field a formidable side that might not include Yaya Toure or David Silva (pic).
The thinking here is based on a remark by City assistant manager David Platt, who publicly mentioned this week that these two stars are not indispensible.
Thus, should City rest Toure and Silva for the game at West Brom and not do well, Mancini could always fall back on the Manchester Evening
News interview with Platt and say that “no one at the Etihad Stadium is indispensable”.
Of course, should they win, as I believe they will, then Mancini and Platt will look like the heroes they are.
And should Chelsea, who play Tottenham in a rather interesting match-up this weekend, lose some ground in the title race, then things would look even better.
n Shaun Orange reckons a win over the Baggies is on the cards today, but remains rather cautious about the Champions League visit to Ajax.