After our good result against Liverpool, we’re now being rushed to London to face Arsenal in the League Cup. I very much doubt we’re going to see the likes of Silva, van Persie and Aguero tonight, but it will be a chance for arguably the two best youth teams in the country to show off their budding youngsters.
I think it’s going to be a tight one. In fact, this may even go to extra time. Mancini has promised 11 changes from the side that started against Liverpool, but those comments were made during a rant at the Premier League fixture schedule, however, I don’t think Mancini is a man to go back on his word unless he is forced to.
Hart, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, Barry, Balotelli, Aguero and Silva will either be on the bench or not feature at all because we’ve got a big Premier League game on Saturday at home to Norwich (and before you start, every game is a big game), and we’ll need to have our strongest team available to make sure our unbeaten Premier League record doesn’t come to an end.
We haven’t won at Arsenal in 36 years, so maybe it’s time to end that jinx. Clichy sounds desperate to do so as well (of course he would, returning to the place he used to call home), but whether he’ll be playing is another matter altogether.
Pantilimon, Onuoha, Zabaleta, Savic, Kolarov, de Jong, Nasri and Dzeko should start. And I predict they’ll be joined by a couple of youngsters: the returning Abdul Razak has impressed on the south coast at Portsmouth, so I imagine he’ll partner de Jong in midfield if Mancini is truly serious about this competition. And “Boy with the Nice Hair” Denis Suarez may be an additional creative option up front behind Edin Dzeko.
Prediction – Arsenal 1-3 Manchester City, AET.
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