Tag Archive for Man City

TOTTENHAM V MAN CITY by Dave Wood

So another away adventure to add to my scrapbook and let’s see what it had in store for the day.

Up bright and early to catch the 7-06 train from Berwick Upon Tweed and meet up with Mikie and Dougie who had started off 45 minutes earlier from Edinburgh, my bag was full to bursting with beer and Sliced Sausage Rolls I had made for me and the boys and on reaching my seat it was very quickly apparent that this was not going to be a dry day as the box of Koppenburg (There are loads of other Ciders available in the shops as well ;-) ) was sitting proudly on the table for ease of refills. Dougie had even brought a bag of ice which I couldn’t believe and remarkably it was still holding up by the time we reached Laaaaaaaaaaaandan. Laughs a plenty with quite a few City fans passing our table and letting us know they were blues, met up with a City Mate from Newcastle who was in First Class ( I swear we are going to get a reputation for being posh what with Muzz lording it up in there all the time and Kenny Taylor as well, not to mention the likes of Mick Hackin with his private aeroplane taking him too games ;-)   ) . We reach Kings Cross at 11am and after a quick Cig for them it was down into the Underground and Seven Sisters here we come (Not, 2 Sisters as someone said on the train lol ).

Met a group of lads on the tube, all Spurs bar 1 mate who was City, good Craic with the lads and we ended up jumping on the bus down towards the ground with them, fair play they invited us to come for a few beers but we kindly declined and headed towards the Irish Centre. Seen quite a few people we knew and ended up sitting with Mick Hackin and friends of his, team news was had and it obviously caused much debate, especially Joe being dropped but on the bench, few beers later and it was time to move on.

Safely in the ground and squeezed together as Dougies seat was meant for elsewere, Muzz and Dave arrived and the usual greetings were had and the game was under way.

City straight away where very much on the front foot and that terrible buy from Germany KDB was shining like a beacon, the blue faithful were in great voice and you sense it was a case of when not if with regards the first goal and sure as hell up steps the Ginger Nugget with a cool slot home, this lad could become a legend at City he is that composed on the ball, City continue to boss the game and your all just waiting for that 2nd one to be banged in the onion bag, minutes to go and thought best to get a head start on the crowd with regards getting a beer, as myself and others are waiting we hear a groan, to turn round a look up at the screens and see they had scored, unbelievable after dominating the half. Bit Chat and Beer, meeting other regular Away goers and it was back up for the Second half.

The fans were still peppering back into their seats when it all fell apart 5 minutes in, Lamella swung in a great cross but god knows what Caballero was thinking as he came into no mans land and done nothing, this allowed the flick on from Alderweireld to sail into the empty net and from bossing the game to within 5 minutes later we where 1 behind, plenty time so have no fear.

Sadly this seemed to knock the stuffing out of us and our back line were a bit all over the place at times, this allowed them in the back of us and looking very threatening, At the other end it was sad to see Sergio still not quite on it, it makes you wonder if he would have been better served being rested for a couple of extra games after the knock at Palace, he certainly looks out of shape right now. 1 hour gone and Spurs get a free Kick outside the box, Erikson curls a beauty of a kick over the wall and it crashes of the bar, just our luck that it falls right too Harry Kane who controls it on the volley and straight into the empty net, you cannot help but shake your head at the scenes but still hope given the time left, sadly that’s all pie eyed as we just don’t seem to be on it now, another 20 minutes and they drill home the 4th goal and for us it is time to go, get a head start up that bloody road back to 7 sisters, a black Cab is seen ahead and a little sprint is put on by myself and jump in it in front of a few annoyed others, as they say “ If you’re not fast, your last “ , jumps straight on tube back to Kings Cross which had a spurs fan who wanted to fight us all (But all in a good fun way though ) , few craics had and it was our stop, bid him and others farewell and we were on our way to our last train home but still had an hour to spare, a few more beers if you don’t mind and we find this little boozer, pints ordered then the music comes on, out pops a female with very few clothes on and its game on guys, very quickly there were more clothes on the floor than on the female, it would have been rude to not stay for another few beers and view the other pieces of art that were coming on show ;-) ,  time to move on and grab our train home, just making it with 30 seconds to spare lol.

The journey home was a hoot with a poor guy on his way to a stag do in Newcastle and was staying sober, WAS being the operative word as we soon got him joining in with us, off he went at Newcastle and on jumps a couple of young lads, 1 shouting is this for kings X, NOOOOOOOOO it’s for Edinburgh I shouted, they wouldn’t let him off and so they were now on their way to Scotland, turned out there where others and the lads were Chelsea fans, managed to calm them down and get them sorted.

Off I go at Berwick, it is now near 8pm and the motor can have a sleep over in the Station car park as not fit for driving lol. A wee walk down to Chinese, food lifted, lift sorted from mate in the bookies and arrived home around 8-30.

Absolutely belting day as per usual when going Away, spoilt by the result but quickly forgotten, obviously on seeing footage we seen shocking officials on show yet again that definitely turned the game, yes we need answers to quite a few questions regarding our own play but that cannot detract away from shambolic decisions.

So its onwards too Germany for the lads which I’ll sadly miss, but I’ll be back next Saturday at The Etihad cheering the lads on and no doubt consuming an odd beer or 3.

Dave Wood

Pre Match Thread | Man City v West Ham

Manchester City v West Ham

Date
: Saturday 19th September 2015 17:30 BST
Competition: Barclays Premier League

Visit the club|Etihad Stadium|Parking| Contact + 44 161 444 1894
Travel Links: AA Road watch|Rail Travel News|Flight Information|Metrolink service

MCFC SQUAD NEWS

Squad (from):Caballero, Hart, Wright, Demichelis, Kolarov, Kompany (lets hope he is OK and no calf injury), Mangala, Sagna, Fernandinho, Nasri, Navas, Toure, De Bruyne, Silva, Sterling, Bony, Aguero
Injuries/SuspensionsClichy, Zabaleta, Fernando, Delph

West Ham Squad News 

Squad (from): Randolph, Adrián, Spiegel, Reid, Cresswell, Tomkins, Jenkinson, Collins, Oxford, Knoyle, Kouyaté, Obiang, Noble, Amalfitano, Moses, Payet, Lanzini, Antonio, Cullen, Samuelsen, Carroll, Sakho, Jelavic, Lee
Injuries /Suspensions: Ogbonna, Song, Zárate, Valencia, O’Brien

KEY BATTLES

After plummeting out of the Europa League West Ham have started the Premier League season very well. The Hammers have picked up victories away from home against Arsenal and Liverpool and look very dangerous playing away. Central to their positive start has been Payet who has impressed with his strength, skill, power, passing range and shooting ability. The commentator during the Newcastle game likened him to Carlos Tevez which is a fairly decent comparison when you consider his strengths and style of play. Payet would appear to be an absolute steal at £10M; Payet appears in the Top European league player stats of the 2014-15 season numerous times. Dimitri Payet (Marseille) had 17 assists only bettered by Fabregas (Chelsea) 18, Messi (Barcelona) 18 and De Bruyne (Wolfsburg) 20. Dimitri Payet (Marseille) 133 was top man for most chances created finishing just above second best Kevin De Bruyne (Wolfsburg) 111. Dimitri Payet (Marseille) 86 was second best statistically for Most crosses completed behind Kieran Trippier (Burnley) 91. Dimitri Payet (Marseille) 21 was also second for Most through-balls completed behind Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 33 with Silva 4th 18. All that considered it’s a huge surprise that West Ham managed to secure his signature firstly at such a modest price and secondly with no real competition for the 28 year old attacking midfielders signature.

I Expect Slaven Bilić will rest one of his forward 3; Carroll will possibly make way for the additional player in central midfield. West Ham had to fend off interest from three top Premier League clubs to keep hold of 16-year-old Reece Oxford and I expect that after a very established debut in the 3v0 win against Liverpool he will be given the opportunity to face Man City. Adrian is likely to return on goals after suspension despite strong performances from Randolph, either keeper should expect to be very busy defending the barrage of City attacks. I hope that we continue with the same back 7 and go for the front 4 that all City fans are desperate to see; Silva, Sterling, De Bruyne and Aguero. Chelsea v Arsenal is the early kick-off and if Chelsea secure the home win and City get a victory that would place them 8 points ahead of Arsenal and 11 ahead of Chelsea before United play a tough match away at Southampton. What I would give for keeping the current logic going 3v0, 3v0, 2v0, 2v0, 1v0, 1v0. Has any team ever won the first 6 without conceding in the Premier League?

City are currently in good Kompany with 100% records in top tier football leagues; they share this accolade with Barcelona (3), Inter Milan (3), Dortmund (4), Bayern (4) and Aberdeen (7) in their respective leagues. After a disappointing performance in Europe City must bounce back with 3 points!!

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POTENTIAL LINE UPS

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HEAD TO HEAD FIXTURES – Last 10 games

  • 11/12/2010 West Ham United A PL 3-1 [IMG]
  • 01/05/2011 West Ham United H PL 2-1 [IMG]
  • 03/11/2012 West Ham United A PL 0-0 [IMG]
  • 27/04/2013 West Ham United H PL 2-1 [IMG]
  • 19/10/2013 West Ham United A PL 3-1 [IMG]
  • 08/01/2014 West Ham United H LC 6-0 [IMG]
  • 21/01/2014 West Ham United A LC 3-0 [IMG]
  • 11/05/2014 West Ham United H PL 2-0 [IMG]
  • 25/10/2014 West Ham United A PL 1-2 [IMG]
  • 19/04/2015 West Ham United H PL 2-0 [IMG]

Manchester City have scored 24 goals in the last ten games against West Ham, Aguero has 5, ______ has 5, YaYa has 4, Silva and Dzeko both scored 2, 1 own goal but which other 5 players scored once?

Further information about the head to head can be found in the Bluemoon History section

You can find the full City team, match reports and Youtube videos here with footage from these matches

Referee Appointments

REFEREE: Robert Madley 
ASST. REF. 1: M McDonough
ASST. REF. 2: M Perry
4TH OFFICIAL: C Pawson

Robert Madley has only refereed 20 to flight matches as you can see with his Match History, he has only refereed a Man City match once versusLeicester in a fairly uneventful match from a card perspective (only 1 booking) – interestingly City were only awarded 6 fouls to the 13 of Leicester.
Sent off Behrami (Watford) in last match which was a deserved red and once sent off 3 player in match between Southmptn 0:3 West Brom. I think we need to be careful in this match and ensure we don’t give the referee the opportunity to influence the game!

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BETTING ODDS - Oddchecker

If you think that City could equal the 6v0 victory from the 2014 season you can get odds of 55-1
I think this will be a tight game, I can see us conceding as it’s inevitable it will happen eventually in the Premier League. I also think we will score and win therefore a more reasonable bet would be a City 2v1 (19/2), 3v1 (17/2), 3v2 (26/1), 4v1 (16/1) victories. Manchester City haven’t been involved in a 0 v 0 draw for 76 consecutive games since Norwich February 2014; but if you believe this scenario will occur you can get odds of 27/1 for 0v0

Pre-match | Man City v Watford

Manchester City v Watford FC

Date
: 15:00pm, Saturday 29th August 2015
Visit the club|Etihad Stadium|Parking| Contact + 44 161 444 1894
Travel Links:AA Road watch|Rail Travel News|Flight Information|Metrolink service
Please be advised that travel may be impacted by the Gay Pride event on in town on Saturday. There are still issues with travel along the Mancunian way – thanks @squirtyflower for the travel info

Battle of last years’ bridesmaids; Manchester City (2nd Barclays Premier League 2014/15) welcome Watford FC (2nd Sky Bet Championship 2014/15) to the Etihad stadium. The two sides have only met competitively 20 times in their history which is surprising when you consider Watford were formed in 1881 and Manchester city founded in 1894 (St Mark’s 1880). City could set a club record ten consecutive wins if they achieve victory in this match after equalling the record with a victory against Everton! Man City have significantly strengthened the defensive side of squad with the signing of Ottamendi. The transfer of De Bruyne still appears on the horizon in what has been a spectacular transfer window for the blues. Watford have been very busy in the transfer market and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a few more additions before the window slams shut.

MCFC SQUAD NEWS

Squad Information -Injuries/Suspensions

Squad (from):Caballero, Hart, Wright, Demichelis, Denayer, Kolarov, Kompany, Mangala, Sagna, Fernandinho, Delph, Lopes, Nasri, Navas, Silva, Toure, Aguero, Iheanacho
Injured:Clichy, Zabaleta, Fernando, Bony

WATFORD SQUAD NEWS

Squad Information - Injuries/Suspensions

Squad (from)Gomes, Gilmartin, Arlauskis Nyom, Britos, Angella, Prödl, Paredes, Cathcart, Pudil, Layun, Holebas, Belkalem, Aké, Jurado, Behrami, Anya, Abdi, Watson, Capoue, Dyer, Deeney, Vydra , Forestieri, Berghuis, Ighalo, Diamanti
Injured:Doyley, Ekstrand

KEY BATTLES

City and Watford have both faced Everton and WBA this season in games where City have achieved 2 wins where Watford managed 2 draws. Before the Everton game City had achieved 38 shots this season (highest in Premier league) compared to 27 shots from Watford!

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A key fixture in the first few games was the link up play between Silva, Sterling and Kolarov – here we can see their combined heat map. The trickery of the trio may be too much too handle for Cameroon defender Nyon who made 100% of his tackles (5) vs Everton (all tackles made in deep right back position). I expect we will see a similar positional performance from Nyom as we seen in the Everton game and expect his forward momentum will be greatly restricted.

Silva, Sterling and Kolarov Heatmap vs Chelsea(left) and West Brom (right)

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Nyom Heatmap first 2 matches – Everton (left) and West Bron (right)

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Étienne Capoue signed for a Club Record fee of 6M this season and has started well despite not being able to previously force his way into the Spurs team with only 24 appearances. I expect Watford to sit deep and Capoue and Behrami to sit directly in front of the back 4 in an attempt to shield Prödl and Cathcart.

I expect Behrami to start but not finish the game; Behrami has fantastic work-rate and is a robust, skilful, solid player but very aggressive, a rash tackler and at times can be a hothead. The intricate passing and direct driving runs of YaYa will cause many problems and he may struggle well when restricted to minimal ball possession leading to frustration. The stats don’t back this up as he has never seen two yellows to lead to red and only 2 reds in his football career so perhaps this should just be classed as a hunch. He tends to receive a yellow every 4 games so perhaps I am doing him a discredit but feel that the overall power of Man City in central midfield will be a determining power in the outcome of this match.

POTENTIAL LINE UPS

I expect Man City will start with the same 11 players who have achieved 3 wins, 8 goals and 0 conceded in the first 3 matches of the season.

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LAST 10 FIXTURES

MANAGER HEAD TO HEAD

Quique Flores replaced Slavisa Jokanovic despite Watford achieving Premier League promotion at the start of the 2015 season and this will be the first head to head between the 2 managers in England. Flores is the 5th Watford manager in the space of ten months in what has been a turbulent period of managerial change; Watford Football club will surely be hoping for improved stability with Flores at the reigns.

Watford Managers in last 10 months

Pellegrini is a vastly more experienced manager with 27 years experience compared to 11 years for Flores. The 2 managers are very familiar and have had many duals in La Liga; Pellegrini as manager of Villareal, Real Madrid & Malaga and Flores as manager of Getafe, Valencia & Atlético Madrid. Pellegrini has had substantially more success with 9 wins to 3 and 1 draw between the managers.

LaLiga Head To Head

  • 01/05/2005 Primera División 2004/2005 – Villarreal 4v0 Getafe
  • 12/12/2004 Primera División 2004/2005 – Getafe 1v2 Villarreal
  • 05/11/2005 Primera División 2005/2006 – Villareal 1v0 Valencia
  • 04/01/2006 Copa del Rey 2005/2006 – Villareal 0v2 Valencia
  • 11/01/2006 Copa del Rey 2005/2006 – Valencia 1v0 Villarreal
  • 22/03/2006 Primera División 2005/2006 – Valencia 1v1 Villarreal
  • 07/01/2007 Primera División 2006/2007 – Villareal 1v0 Valencia
  • 26/05/2007 Primera División 2006/2007 – Valencia 2v3 Villarreal
  • 26/08/2007 Primera División 2007/2008 – Valencia 0v3 Villarreal
  • 07/11/2009 Primera División 2009/2010 – Atlético Madrid 2v3 Real Madrid
  • 28/03/2010 Primera División 2009/2010 – Real Madrid 3v2 Atlético Madrid
  • 19/12/2010 Primera División 2010/2011 – Málaga 0v3 Atlético Madrid
  • 07/05/2011 Primera División 2010/2011 – Atlético Madrid 0v3 Málaga

Referee Appointments

REFEREE:

Mark Clattenburg

ASST. REF. 1: S Beck

ASST. REF. 2: J Collin

4TH OFFICIAL: J Adcock

BETTING ODDS

Oddchecker

Manchester City record win against Watford is 3v0; looking at the odds the bookies think this could be beaten, with best odds only @ 4-1 for Man City to win by 4 Or More Goals

Pre-match | Everton v Man City

Everton FCManchester City
Date: 16.00pm, Sunday 23rd August 2015

Guide for visiting supporters |Getting to Goodison|Contact + 44 151 556 1878
Travel Links: AA Road watch Manchester | AA Road watch LiverpoolRail Travel News

MCFC SQUAD NEWS - Squad Information -Injuries/Suspensions

Squad (from): Caballero, Hart, Wright, Demichelis, Denayer, Clichy, Kolarov, Kompany, Mangala, Sagna, Fernandinho, Fernando, Lopes, Nasri, Navas, Silva, Toure, Aguero, Bony, Iheanacho

Injured
: Fernando,Delph, Zabaleta

Everton SQUAD NEWS - Squad Information -Injuries/Suspensions

Squad (from)Robles, Howard, Stanek, Stones, Jagielka, Coleman, Browning, Galloway, Oviedo, Cleverley, McCarthy, Barry, Barkley, Deulofeu, Besic, Osman, Kone, Lukaku, Mirallas, Naismith, McAleny

InjuredBaines, Gibson, McGeady, Pienaar, Hibbert

PREDICTED LINE UPS

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Sagna deserves to retain the right back spot but think Zabaleta may be used for this game.

MATCH ANALYSIS AND KEY BATTLES 

Manchester City and Everton are both going into this game on a high after 3v0 wins against direct competitors. Manchester City were dominant against Chelsea; a fantastic team performance causing many pundits to reconsider who the title favourites are. The fans witnessed a record attendance at the Etihad and were treated to fluid, progressive, attacking flowing football; an absolute joy to watch! Aguero on his return was fired up, a constant threat, lead the line and scored a passing accuracy of 95%; misplacing one pass the entire game. David Silva sang “Ring a Ring o’ Roses” as he danced around the Chelsea midfield, he ran circles round Matic and Ramires all game much to their fristration. The Chelsea midfield and attack whimpered “A pocket full of posies; A-tishoo! A-tishoo! We all fall down” as they looked to exploit the leniency shown by Atkinson.

Everton played brilliantly, utilizing the counter attack excellently in what was always a tough away fixture against Southampton. Lukaku exhibited why he is one of the highest rated young strikers in the Premier League with an awe inspiring performance. Lukaku was unplayable showed composure, strength and determination; was a constant threat down the left flank and centrally with his direct powerful running. He finished his two goals brilliantly and was clear man of the match. Barkley showed why he is rated one of the best Home grown talents in the Premier League. The Everton defence was impenetrable with strong performances from Stones and Jagielka centrally and a fit Tim Howard between the sticks is one of the best keepers in the Premier League.

This game has all the hallmarks of being a classic encounter and small margins could swing the balance of this game. In the 2014/15 season Everton have had more attempts from Direct Free-Kicks than any other team in the Premier League. Everton tend to win many freekicks on the edge of the box due to fouls on Barkley, Mirallas and Lukaku. Man City received much less fouls on the edge of the box but do have a much higher conversion rate (ranked 3rd overall for goals scored from direct free kicks) due to free kick specialists like YaYa and Kolarov. Baines is a set piece specialist, providing many assists and a real threat from set pieces and his absence through injury will be a big loss for Everton. I was looking at the free kick and distribution of fouls and was shocked by the statistics; Manchester City were awarded the least amount of fouls of any teams last season {310 to City compared to 487 for Man Utd} and City committed 50 more fouls {472 to 389} than Everton last season. This appears odd when you consider the amount of time City spend in possession of the ball; City were ranked 1st for ‘Possession in Final Third’, ‘Total Touches’, ‘Touches in Opponents Half’, ‘Touches in Final Third’ and ‘Touches in Penalty Area’ and 2nd for ‘overall possession’ and ‘overall possession in final third’. It would have made sense to me that a team on the back-foot who are defending, without the ball who need to make tackles, clearances and interceptions would commit more fouls but City aren’t in that scenario. Therfore to conclude it must be because we maintain possession of the ball for long spells of the game and when we lose the ball we press the ball aggressively; yet that doesn’t explain why the statistics are so extreme when comparing City and United. So we must consider a team who play a similar style in another league; let’s choose Barcelona as it’s no secret that this is the team that Man City aspires to replicate both on and off the pitch! I’m starting to understand why it often feels like the referee is not watching the same game as we the fans are when the sums don’t add up! Perhaps someone could explain that to me? The only logic I can see is that Eibar play in sky blue!

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I think the 2 key areas of this game will be central midfield and battle of the flanks. Midfield will be interesting as from last season’s statistics we can see that Man City won the least amount of tackles in the league compare to Everton who won the second most tackles 692 to the 932 lost for City. Everton tend to focus on attacking down the wingss and were ranked last for % Chances Created from the Centre last season. Everton predominately focus on bringing the ball out from the goal keeper and attacking down the left flank although this threat is diminished partially by the absence of Baines with Galloway or Oviedo likely to play left back, with Galloway the more likely starter despite poll from the Liverpool echo.

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LAST 10 FIXTURES

  • 20-Dec-10 Manchester City v Everton Loss 1-2
  • 07-May-11 Everton v Manchester City Loss 2-1
  • 24-Sep-11 Manchester City v Everton WIN 2-0
  • 31-Jan-12 Everton v Manchester City Loss 1-0
  • 01-Dec-12 Manchester City v Everton DRAW 1-1
  • 16-Mar-13 Everton v Manchester City Loss 2-0
  • 05-Oct-13 Manchester City v Everton WIN 3-1
  • 03-May-14 Everton v Manchester City WIN 2-3
  • 06-Dec-14 Manchester City v Everton WIN 1-0
  • 10-Jan-15 Everton v Manchester City DRAW 1-1

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MANAGER HEAD TO HEAD

Manchester City are looking for their 3rd win at Goodison since 1992, viewing the game from a positive perspective I think that City have hexed their hoodoo after beating Everton away on the 3rd of May 2014 in the run in to becoming champions. Statistics are interesting and if City get a result this time then the record books will show 7 points out 9 in last 3 trips. Pellegrini has the edge over Martinez in the last 5 fixtures with three wins and a draw. Martinez teams tend to play attacking free flowing football and he is a likable character and well-respected manager in Premier league circles after his terms at Wigan and Swansea.

Last 5 Fixtures

  • 16-Mar-13 Everton v Manchester City Loss 2-0
  • 05-Oct-13 Manchester City v Everton WIN 3-1
  • 03-May-14 Everton v Manchester City WIN 2-3
  • 06-Dec-14 Manchester City v Everton WIN 1-0
  • 10-Jan-15 Everton v Manchester City DRAW 1-1

REFEREE

Referee Appointments: Referee Anthony Taylor
http://www.football-lineups.com/referee/341/

Has officiated City games on 3 occasions, 2 wins and 1 loss against Wigan in the cup.

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BETTING ODDS

Oddchecker

Manchester City best ever result was a 6-2 away at Goodison Park in 1928, I do fancy City to go and attack Everton and if you fancy this result you can find odds of 350-1

Swansea v Man City (League) – Tue 4th May [0v0 draw]

5 of us met up in Highland Hotel for what was to be a boring 0v0 draw

Man United v Man City (League) – Mon 8th April [1v2 win]

What a great match at the swamp, City fans buzzing and Rags silent.

For 20 minutes before the match the City fans baited the United fans “We are the Champions”

City dominated throughout showing there the only team to come form Manchester!!!

Were the pride of Manchester!!

CTID

You signed Phil Jones, we signed Kun Aguero

QPRv City (League) – Sat 05 Nov 2011 [2-3 win]

A mark of a title winning side it one that can increase the figures in the win and points columns whilst not at their best.

It’s Fireworks night and YaYa Toure doesn’t disappoint with a late winner.