Preview: Manchester City v Wolverhampton Wanderers

Round 2 of City versus Wolves kicks off with the blues as strong favourites to secure the win. The atmosphere promises to be buoyant following last weekend’s triumph over United and the Carling Cup victory at Molineux.

What will be interesting to see is the line-up Roberto Mancini fields, bearing in mind City have a crucial away game in the Champions League on Wednesday. Will the manager revert to the side that beat United or will a few be held back for Villarreal?

Joe Hart, Vincent Kompany and Joleon Lescott are likely to feature in both games, but what of the rest? Now that Dzeko has rediscovered his scoring touch, it may be tempting to use him against Mick McCarthy’s side. Mario Balotelli’s scoring form should see him make his Champions League debut for City.

Despite his goal last week, Aguero didn’t appear to be at his sharpest and might be better off playing just one of the next two games.  Samir Nasri and Adam Johnson could easily play tomorrow, while Nigel de Jong could be of more use in Spain.

Mancini could simply revert to last weekend’s line-up, though he might be better off mixing things up with a view to the upcoming away games against Villarreal and QPR.

Whichever side he picks will go out full of confidence. Wolves have been in poor form and City should look to exploit any weaknesses in a defence that doesn’t look the best in the league.

Blue Days line-up:
Hart
Zabaleta – Kompany – Lescott – Kolarov
de Jong – Barry
A Johnson – Nasri – Silva
Dzeko

Prediction: 3-0 to City.