Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Injured Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany might not return until the the “last part of the season”.
Wilfried Bony, Fernandinho, Eliaquim Mangala, Samir Nasri and Patrick Roberts are also set to miss out again.
Crystal Palace winger Yannick Bolasie remains on the sidelines because of a leg problem.
Dwight Gayle is a doubt despite returning to training after a hamstring injury while Connor Wickham is expected to return to the starting XI.
Editor’s Note: Manchester City failed to take advantage of Arsenal’s draw at Anfield on Wednesday and they still find themselves 3 points behind both the league leaders and Leicester.
Their failure to find the net on Wednesday may prove costly as City can’t seem to bridge that gap to the top with inconsistency letting them down, much has been made of the fact that Vincent Kompany’s absence has affected their performances but with them keeping a clean sheet it was a lack of goals that let them down in Midweek.
Manuel Pellegrini has said that Kompany might not be fit enough to return until the last part of the season, if that is the case could they be handing the title over to Arsenal. They need to make sure they go on a winning run to put the pressure on The Gunners, there’s been too many occasions of a loss here and a draw there especially on the road and with every time points are dropped more pressure is piled on to the Manager especially with Pep Guardiola waiting in the wings.
Fortunately for them they host a Palace side who haven’t registered a league goal in 4 matches so in theory shouldn’t pose too much of a threat this Afternoon. Since the injury to Yannick Bolasie Palace have looked much less threatening and have lost a key element of their game which is pace on the wings.
What is more disappointing is losing to bottom side Aston Villa on Wednesday when Wayne Hennessey spilled Joleon Lescott’s header through this legs and into the net. Certainly a howler worthy of a Christmas Football Gaffes DVD.
Palace’s lack of Goals has seen them slip down the table to 8th but it’s still incredibly tight from 5th to 10th so a win Today would put them back in the mix for European places but the question is where are the goals going to come from?
For that reason I think City will have too much in them and they certainly won’t be registering two home blanks in a row at The Etihad. A home win for me.
