MAN CITY PREVIEW

Sunderland travel to the Etihad Stadium to face Manchester City, only a few days on from holding Liverpool to a draw at Anfield. The Sky Blues are currently five points off the top of the Premier League and will be trying to close the gap on Arsenal. Meanwhile we, still impressively in the top six after 14 games played, will be looking to remain in the European spots for as long as possible and get closer to that famous 40 point mark as quickly as possible. Here’s all of the important information on Man City:

FORM

The Citizens are in great form in the league, having won four of their last five matches. Beating Bournemouth (3-1), Liverpool (3-0) and Leeds United (3-2) at home and Fulham (5-4) away. Their only defeat came away to Newcastle United (2-1). Considering all competitions, they’ve won three of their last five with an additional defeat coming at home to Bayer Leverkusen (2-0) in the Champions League. They sit second in the league standings, on 28 points, winning nine, drawing one and losing four of their 14 matches so far, scoring 32 and conceding 16. At home, they’ve been very good, winning six and losing just once whilst scoring 19 and conceding just six. Their most recent match was the 5-4 thriller at Craven Cottage, with goals from Erling Haaland, Tijjani Reijnders, a brace from Phil Foden and an own goal being just enough to see them put all three points on the table.

THE MANAGER

54-year-old Pep Guardiola is currently in charge. He took the job in July 2016 and has managed 554 games so far, winning an impressive 397 of those, drawing 69 and losing 88. Ironically, his first Premier League match came against Sunderland in 16/17. We were managed by David Moyes and deserved at least a point from the opening day of the season, but a late Paddy McNair own goal lost us the game and set the tone for that season.

Previously, the Spanish boss has taken the reins at Barcelona B, Barcelona and Bayern Munich. At Barcelona B, he won a fourth tier title but at their main team he won three league titles, two Copa del Reys, three Supercopa de Espanas, two Champions Leagues, two UEFA Super Cups and two Club World Cups. The trophies didn’t stop once he left for Germany though. There, he won another three league titles, two DFB-Pokals, one UEFA Super Cup and a Club World Cup. He’s Man City’s most impressive coach in their history too, guiding them to six league titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups, three Community Shields, a Champions League, a UEFA Super Cup and a Club World Cup. Individually, Guardiola has won far too many awards to list them all but he’s been named the Premier League Manager of the Season five times and won the Manager of the Month award 11 times. Pep was also once a defensive midfielder who earned 47 caps for Spain and was part of a Barcelona side who won six league titles during the 1990s, numerous domestic cups and a European Cup.

KEY PLAYERS

Italy international Gianluigi Donnarumma is their current first choice goalkeeper, he’s kept four clean sheets in his 11 Premier League appearances plus another two clean sheets in four Champions League games. Erling Haaland is their top goalscorer, netting a huge 20 goals in just 19 games so far this season and Jeremy Doku is their top playmaker, with six assists in 20 matches. Donnarumma was signed last summer and was joined by players such as attacking midfielder Tijjani Reijnders, left wingback Rayan Ait Nouri and right winger Rayan Cherki.

THE STADIUM

Temporarily restricted to 52,900 seats because it is currently being expanded to a capacity of 61,470, the Etihad Stadium currently ranks number six in terms of largest Premier League stadiums. Originally constructed to be the main venue of the 2002 Commonwealth Games, in 2003 it was converted into a football stadium and became the home of Manchester City. It has been used as a venue for a Women’s Euros (in 2005) and for a UEFA Cup final (in 2008). There has been some doubt over how appropriate it is to call Man City’s stadium “Etihad” as this word in Arabic can be translated to mean union or unity, or in other words, “united”. Given that their main rival is, of course, Manchester United it has caused some controversy, it does seem like a dubious link to be honest however.

PREDICTION

This will be a harder game than the one we’ve just played away to Liverpool. City at home are one the best teams in England, where they can score more than any other team on their own patch (evidenced by them being the top scorers in home matches so far). However, if Leeds can score twice there, so can we. Indeed, if we are going to get something I think two goals at a minimum will be necessary. We’ve also shown we are no pushovers against the big teams away, taking four points from visits to Stamford Bridge and Anfield already. It does also depend on how much Haaland is firing but he’s by no means their only threat. They also have an extra day of recovery over us but that game was very hectic so that might not be too much of a factor. I’ll be optimistic and say we draw 2-2.