City Face Test at Anfield with United Hoping to Close the Deficit
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November 25, 2011 TheFreshOutlook  |
Relegation rivals in tests away from home as Manchester United hope to lessen gap ahead of City’s match at Anfield.
Saturday’s action kicks off at The Britannia as Stoke host struggling Blackburn. Steve Kean’s men have only won once this year, 4-3 at home to Arsenal, and with both sides in the bottom three teams of the form table it could prove a crucial early season turning point.
Peter Crouch, Rory Delap and Matthew Etherington will undergo late fitness tests in bids to make the fixture. Chris Samba, Martin Olsson and Ryan Nelsen miss out for Rovers.
Everton are the visitors at The Reebok, with Bolton looking to recover from their difficult start to the season and climb out of the bottom three. The Merseysiders will look to push on into the top half of the table, with David Moyes hoping for another win after last week’s victory versus Wolves.
Mick McCarthy’s team will look to take advantage of a Chelsea camp distracted by criticism at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea will hope to avoid three straight home defeats whilst Wolves will have to do without the suspended Jamie O’Hara and Stephen Hunt. Richard Stearman misses out after breaking his wrist against Everton.
Manchester United face Newcastle United at Old Trafford looking to put pressure on their cross-city neighbours ahead of City’s match away at Liverpool. Sir Alex Ferguson will welcome back Wayne Rooney and Nemanja Vidic whilst Alan Pardew can call upon the services of former Red Devil Gabriel Obertan and Danny Guthrie after injury. Cheik Tiote and Leon Best are doubts through injury.
QPR are the visitors to Carrow Road and will look for another away win following their 3-2 victory in Stoke. Norwich City have only taken two points from a possible 12 and Paul Lambert’s men will hope the visit of one of their former Championship rivals will mean an opportunity to take all three points. Norwich’s injury problems in defence look to be relenting; Daniel Ayala and Zak Whitbread are in contention for a starting place after reserve fixtures.
Steve Bruce can call upon Sebastian Larsson following his suspension for the visit of Wigan Athletic to the Stadium of Light. Simon Mignolet and Craig Gordon are still out with facial and knee injuries respectively. Roberto Martinez will hope for more points this weekend after halting a run of eight successive defeats with last week’s 3-3 draw with Blackburn.
West Bromwich Albion welcome a Tottenham Hotspur side high on confidence following their win against Aston Villa on Monday. Roy Hodgson could be without Peter Odemwingie and Shane Long after injury whilst newly fit Harry Redknapp will be without Rafael van der Vaart and Jermaine Defoe through muscular complaints. Roman Pavlyuchenko is therefore in contention to start.
The Cottagers make the short trip across London to The Emirates to face Arsene Wenger’s rejuvenated Arsenal. Arsenal have won five games in a row and will be looking to continue this run of form against Martin Jol’s side which has had problems with consistency so far this season. Robin van Persie has scored 12 goals in his last eight appearances for The Gunners in all competitions.
Sunday’s fixtures see Manchester City looking to maintain their unbeaten start to the season with a stern test away at Anfield and Swansea City host Aston Villa at the Liberty Stadium.
Roberto Mancini will look for his squad to bounce back from the midweek Champions League loss to Napoli when they face Kenny Dalglish’s men who are unbeaten at Anfield. Sure to be a tough analysis of their title credentials, they will be able to call upon a fully healthy squad; Mario Balotelli having recovered from a fever. Steven Gerrard is out due to an ankle infection whilst Jamie Carragher and Stewart Downing will be pushing for a recall to the starting line-up.
Brendan Rodgers will restore Joe Allen to his starting line-up for their fixture at home to Aston Villa. Jermaine Jenas will return after being unable to face his parent club Spurs on Monday but Stiliyan Petrov and Chris Herd face an uphill battle to make the game in South Wales. Swansea have only conceded two at home this year whilst Alex McLeish’s men will be looking for their first away win of the season.
By James Coggins
[Image courtesy of Ronnie Macdonald]