The first ever derby to be played at Wembley is set to prove the greatest test thus far for Roberto Mancini and his team. Since the draw was made United have hit top form, while Mancini suffered his worst match as City manager on Monday – and Tevez is missing.
Once again we are portrayed as the underdogs, with the media talking of a United treble. It’s worth remembering that in the last derby at Old Trafford we were equal to United, losing only to an overhead shot by Rooney, and that’s not going to happen this time.
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City managed to conjure up their worst performance of the season to go three goals down after 34 minutes at Anfield and never at any stage looked like getting something out of the game. For Roberto Mancini this was a particularly bad night as he rightly shouldered the blame.
A teamsheet that showed de Jong, Silva, Balotelli and Zabaleta being rested on the bench in such a difficult fixture was bizarre and brought back memories of Gerard Houllier in the FA Cup. Only this time we were Villa.
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Hart – Started with a fine save to tip a Suarez effort onto the post. Sadly it had little effect on the outcome and Joe might have done better with the first two goals. 6
Boyata – The desperate opening period did for the composure he showed against Sunderland. Struggled and received little support. 5
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Never mind Wembley and United, tonight sees City take on a Liverpool side unbeaten in the League since Kenny Dalglish returned as manager. With the other top five teams all winning at the weekend, City need three points to maintain their cushion above fifth placed Tottenham and keep up the challenge for a top three finish.
One bit of good news for City last week was the likely end of Spurs’ Champions League campaign. If Spurs had won the Champions League and finished fifth in the Premier League then they would have qualified for next season’s competition ahead of the fourth placed team. Barring a miracle from Liverpool, Roberto Mancini knows that if he finishes above Spurs we will be in the Champions League for the first time, and his job ought to be secure.
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