Manchester City’s Carlos Tevez in action
Manchester United’s record-breaking surge to a 20th English title gathered more steam with a 1-0 win at Sunderland last Saturday. They will host Manchester City on Monday in a match of much less significance than recent derby encounters. However, both teams will be going all out for the win.
Manchester United are 15 points clear of their ‘Noisy Neighbours’ but a win here would mean much over the team that snatched the title from their grasp last season. City are looking to maintain second spot with Tottenham five points behind them and a win here will salvage some pride, especially after losing 3-2 at the Etihad in the reverse fixture.
United’s win over Sunderland set a record for the first English Premier League team to record 25 wins in 30 games. After the match Sir Alex Ferguson said: “The disappointment of losing the title last season has galvanised the team.” The Red Devils have been exceptional at home winning 14 of their 15 matches, losing once. They remain on course to break Chelsea’s record from the 2004-05 season of 95 points from a single campaign and require just 10 points from their last eight games to extend their record haul of championships.
United had to contest their quarter-final replay against Chelsea on Monday, just two days after the win against Sunderland. A brilliant goal from Demba Ba saw their hopes of clinching the league and cup double end as that proved the only goal of the game. Manchester United are unbeaten in the league since the defeat at Norwich City in November. Ferguson will be hoping Wayne Rooney will have recovered from a groin injury in time after the injury forced the striker to sit out United’s trips to Sunderland and Chelsea.
Manchester City cruised to an easy 4-0 win over Newcastle last weekend with the goals scored by Carlos Tevez, David Silva, Vincent Kompany and Yaya Toure. For free-scoring City it was meaningless in terms of the title race, but it did ram home two other points. For City, the lesson was that missing a single key player really can be damaging. In the two months they have been without their captain, Vincent Kompany, they have dropped 10 points. On his return, he scored in a romp. Roberto Mancini insists injuries and international calls shattered City’s hopes of retaining their Premier League title. But they remain 15 points behind neighbours United and Mancini admitted their aim is to make sure of second place.
He said: “It is impossible to win the title now, but it is important to finish the season well. It is difficult to always play well. We lost a lot of players with injuries. If all the players are ready, it is different. It is bad when we lose Vincent for 60 days, like when we lost Yaya for a month. But we can’t think about the title. That is gone.” For all Mancini’s excuses it is their away record that has really cost them the title. At home they have lost just once, against United, winning 11 and drawing three.
Away from home they have only managed seven wins in 15 matches, losing three times. They have the best defensive record in the league having conceded just 26 goals. It’s their forward line who have failed to inspire with only Edin Dzeko managing a decent 12 goals in the matches he has played.
City could be the more inspired here and United will need to improve considerably from their last two performances if they expect even a point here. City won 6-1 here last season and the ‘Noisy Neighbours’ are tipped to get the win.
