Preview: Manchester City v Arsenal

Another big test for City arrives at Eastlands in the shape of Arsenal. Whether Adebayor is in the starting eleven to welcome them is a legitimate question following his excellent hat-trick on Thursday.

Chances are Roberto Mancini will pack the midfield and revert to a line-up similar to that which defeated Chelsea. That means Yaya Toure, de Jong and Barry providing the muscle in midfield.

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Europa League verdict: Manchester City 3 Lech Poznan 1

Emmanuel Adebayor brushed off the cobwebs in his goal celebration, as a hat-trick gave City victory over spirited Poznan. Both sides sought to attack in an entertaining fixture played out against the most remarkable away support ever seen at Eastlands.

Filling the away end were fans from Poland, while the upper tier of the East stand was given over to UK based Poles. Added to that were a sprinkling of other ex-pats around the home section! Those in the away end supplied the full reportoire of Eastern Europe crowd antics, switching from the slightly threatening to the quite comic.

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Europa League preview: Manchester City v Lech Poznan

City face a potentially tricky fixture against the Polish champions with Roberto Mancini having to be mindful of Sunday’s game against Arsenal. The manager has spoken of resting Carlos Tevez while bigging up Adebayor’s performance against Blackpool.

Presumably this is an attempt to kickstart the Togolese into some goalscoring form while we wait for Balotelli to gain full fitness. Mancini’s brushing aside of the Rooney speculation can in part be put down to not wanting to further alienate Adebayor. We need a striker other than Tevez to score some goals, as tonight’s match illustrates.

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