Manchester City v Aston Villa
Etihad Stadium, City of Manchester
Wednesday 7 May 2014
Kickoff: 1945 BST
Referee: Michael Oliver
Assistants : D England & S Child
Fourth Official: Philip (Phil) Dowd
TV Coverage in UK: Sky Sports 1 HD (Sky 401) and Sky Sports 1 (Sky 407)
Coverage starts at 1900 BST
A special Match of the Day will also air on BBC 1 HD (Sky 141) and BBC 1 (Sky 101) at 2240 BST
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The Game in Hand
Top of the league as it stands ... Chelsea is currently playing Norwich and is being held at 0-0 with an hour gone, by the end of that game if they win, they'd top the table and if Liverpool wins tomorrow night at Palace, then they'll top the table ... but all that is meaningless as this is the game that we've had in hand for so long. Well, we've had three games in hand and then two games in hand for a long time so haven't really been top of the table that much this season (mostly because of having lesser no. of games played at most times in the second half of this season) ...
When this game is over, finally everyone would have played 37 games ... and win this and we'll be top of the league going into the final weekend.
The games in hand doesn't mean 3 points (remember Sunderland?) and a game at home against a lower-half-of-the-table opposition also doesn't mean 3 points (remember Sunderland again?) ... and then Villa beat us at home earlier in the season so as Pelligrini very wisely said post-Everton that the worst thing we can do now is think we've won the title or the league is over ...
I am hoping Chelsea drops points today (now 66 mins played and still 0-0) ... and more importantly Liverpool drops some points at Palace tomorrow night ... as that gives us slight wiggle room as right now as it stands we need 6 out of 6 points. Yes, they may be two games at home and yes they may be against lower-half-of-the-table teams which are both safe now so nothing to play for ... but well, this is a funny game and needing 3 or 4 points out of 6 will always be better than needing all 6.
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The Opposition
Villa haven't really improved from last year. They were in serious danger of going down last year and this season was supposed to be where their 'youngsters' would have progressed a little and they had even managed to keep Benteke in summer ... they are not much better than last season though ...
However they have just secured Premier League status by winning their last game against Hull, which was their first win in 7 games ... so their form guide isn't something to write about: LLLLDLW ... all good for us of course, we are playing against a team in this form, a team which has just secured their place in PL for next season so have nothing to play for AND we are playing at home ...
If this game and their current form fell to us somewhere in December or January, it'd be a sure shot banker but given this is the second-last game of the season and a MUST-WIN for us (depending on Chelsea's and Liverpool's results) and having lost to them in a freak of an away game earlier in the season, I think we need to start strong and take this very very seriously, unlike we have seen our guys walk out a little relaxed when playing a smaller club especially at home ...
Yes, we'll believe till the last minute of the injury time of the last game ... but let's not complicate things for ourselves this time around. A straight forward home win, starting strongly, controlling the game, winning it in first half itself would do our hearts some good going into the final weekend.
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Team Selection
There is a case for resting a few players here and perhaps giving a last playing chance to some of the fringe players who haven't had as much playing time recently ... the likes of Richards, Lescott, Nastasic, Rodwell, Jovetic and Negredo perhaps ... but I don't see Pellegrini bringing in too many changes ... and rightly so ... yes, it's a mid-week fixture but c'mon, it's just two games left, yes rest Yaya maybe and start with Ferdy, start with Negredo if Aguero not fully fit or Dzeko feeling tired or use Jovetic for a half but that's about it ... this is no time to bring in Richards, Nastasic, Lescott or Rodwell ... and I'm afraid all of whom might have played their last game for us already.
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Starting XI Prediction
Given how Aguero and Yaya were subbed last game, and with the next game end of the week, I think this is how we'll line up:
Hart
Zaba - Komps - Demi - Kola
Nasri - Ferdy - Garcia - Silva
Negredo - Dzeko
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Score Prediction
I think we'll see everyone up for this ... the players as well as the fans ... and then it'll all be too much for Villa who in the back of their minds will be a little relaxed after having secured their PL spot ... oh, and we'll keep the GD well in front so it doesn't really become an issue for us at the last gameweek.
Manchester City 4 - 0 Aston Villa
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Other Games
Other catch-up games mid-week are Scum playing Hull at the Swamp on Tuesday and Sunderland host West Brom at the same time as us on Wednesday ... nothing of any importance what so ever ... except maybe another smaller team to win at the Swamp this season who haven't done so in 'X' no. of years.
PS. Chelsea 0 - 0 Norwich (88 mins now)
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