Villareal - City, preview.



Sergio Aguero is grabbed by Edin Dzeko
after his goal secured victory against Villareal
in last month's meeting.

VILLAREAL - MANCHESTER CITY, PREVIEW.





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October was a fantastic month for us, so it's a shame to say goodbye. We played some of our best football against some of the league's trickier sides, progressed in the League Cup and we thumped Manchester United in one of the most eagerly anticipated Manchester derbies of recent times. We head into November, and our first opponents this month are Spanish strugglers Villareal.

Villareal sit bottom of Group A, and if they lose tonight they're out of the competition. They're missing Rossi, Cani, Zapata, Senna and Nilmar, which is like City losing Aguero, Silva, de Jong, Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri. Their squad is down to the bare bones currently, and just when everything seemed to be going against them, things got a little worse when they looked down the fixture list and saw us.

No matter what happens in the game between Bayern and Napoli tonight, we need this win more than ever if we want to progress to the next round. What gives me hope, is that whenever Villareal came forward in their 2-1 loss at City everything seemed to be created through Rossi, but tonight he won't be playing, so I don't see where their attacking threat is going to come from.

Vincent Kompany is eligible to play as his suspension only applies in English league and League Cup games, so I expect him to start at the back alongside either Joleon Lescott or Kolo Toure. And after being given a rest on Saturday, I expect Clichy and Milner to start ahead of Nasri and Kolarov to increase workrate.

Despite their injuries, I'm not expecting Villareal to roll over and say "alright, you can hav six goals" because we all know football does not work like that. El Madrigal is horrid place to visit because of its hostilityand intimidating nature, so Villareal will be using those strengths against us in a bid to take the three points.

If we lose tonight, we're probably going out. Napoli win and they head on to 8 points, while we'd be stuck on 4 and in desperate need of a Villareal win in Munich in two weeks time. A win is a must tonight if we are to progress, and here is the team I'm trusting to get us just that:

Hart; Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott(or Kolo Toure), Clichy; Milner, de Jong, Yaya Toure; Silva, Dzeko, Balotelli.