Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Norwich pair Robbie Brady and Steven Naismith will be assessed after both were substituted with respective calf and hamstring injuries last weekend.
Sebastien Bassong and Andre Wisdom could return but Alex Tettey is out for the rest of the season.
Manchester City will be without Yaya Toure because of the recurrence of a heel injury.
Kevin De Bruyne has returned to training after his knee ligament injury but he is not yet ready to return.
Editor’s Note: Norwich have gone 9 games without a win and it looks as if there form has deserted them at just the wrong time. Alex Neil knows he needs to reverse this trend soon otherwise their battle to get out of the dropzone could become even more difficult. While it’s a task that won’t get any easier with the visit of Manchester City to Carrow Road this Lunchtime.
Last time out The Canaries lost a relegation 6 pointer away at Swansea. That win has given Swansea enough breathing space between them and the teams currently in and around the bottom 3. You would have to think with Aston Villa a lost cause, it’s going to be 2 from 3 out of Norwich, Sunderland and Newcastle.
But I doubt the news that Rafa Benitez has been appointed the new Newcastle Manager would have gone down too well in East Anglia. If Benitez has work his magic quickly and give Newcastle a resurgence then it could make Norwich’s plight even harder.
They play host to a Manchester City side that managed to record it’s first win in 4 matches last Saturday after beating bottom side Aston Villa. Prior to that win they had lost their last 3 and instead of looking at being a title contender they were then looking over their shoulder at the sides below them trying to make sure they didn’t lose grasp of that final Champions League place.
It turned out to be quite an important victory what with West Ham snatching all 3 points at Goodison Park and it made sure they stay 4th for at least another week. With The Hammers on F.A. Cup duty there will look to extend that gap and give themselves a bit of a breathing space and maybe even get them back in the title hunt.
If they are going to have any chance of getting a 3rd title in 5 seasons then they need their best players to be firing on all cylinders for the last quarter of the season. News that Yaya Toure is once again injured will be a blow and Manuel Pellegrini will be hoping he isn’t ruled out for too long.
That said even without Yaya Toure, City will still have more than enough at their disposal to brush past Norwich and I can’t see anything other than an away win this Lunchtime and consigning Norwich to their 10th game without a win. An away win for me.
