Roberto Mancini will look to follow up Wednesday’s away victory with another against QPR. The manager has promised to rotate the team after the midweek fixture and it will be interesting to see who comes in.
One player definitely out is the suspended Vincent Kompany and either Stefan Savic or Kolo Toure should partner Joleon Lescott. It will be a real vote of confidence in 20-year-old Savic if he is selected to start his second game in four days.
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City’s first ever away victory in Europe’s premier club competition could hardly have been more comfortable thanks to a clinical pair of Yaya Toure strikes sandwiching a Mario Balotelli penalty. Injuries and Aguero’s last minute winner in the previous round had clearly taken their toll on Villarreal.
Roberto Mancini sprung a surprise in selecting Stefan Savic ahead of Joleon Lescott. Maybe the manager didn’t want to risk Joleon ahead of the game against QPR when Kompany is suspended. With Villarreal impotent in attack Savic was able to demonstrate his excellent composure on the ball – you have to remind yourself he’s still only 20.
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Hart – Underworked for much of the match, before allowing O’Hara’s shot to come straight out and result in a penalty. It’s happened on a couple of occasions and no doubt the goalkeeping coaches will be working on this in training. 6
Richards – Put in a tremendous effort going forward in the first half. Also kept an eye on the hard working Hunt, eventually forcing him to be susbstituted. 8
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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?
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