West Brom v Manchester City – Monday 26th December – The Hawthorns (17:00)
Manchester City - David Silva
The title race is hotting up as the influential Christmas period is under way. This is normally the time when champions Manchester United reign supreme and gain points on the league leaders, however their city rivals are back to their best and 2 points clear at the top of the table. The log leaders travel to The Hawthorns on Monday to face Roy Hodgson’s West Brom.
West Brom moved up to 13th place on the table after Peter Odemwingie clinched a late winner against Blackburn that earned West Brom the 3 points with a 2-1 win. Odemwingie was Albion’s man of the match and his performance silenced the critics who have said he is not the same player as last season. Odemwingie, who has returned from injury, had been firing on all cylinders in training and he took his form into the game by grabbing the late goal. It was the Nigerian’s 3rd of the season and now that the niggling injuries have disappeared he is hoping to push on. His strike partner, James Morrison, who started the season on a high, also got on the scoresheet with a long-range volley and will be hoping to carry his form into this match. Roy Hodgson has a knack of getting the best out of his team and hold bigger teams to draws or even beating them. He did it numerous times last season and will be hoping West Brom build on last week’s performance here.
David Silva restored Manchester City’s two-point lead in the Premier League with a 1-0 win over Arsenal last Sunday after Wayne Rooney’s lightning-fast header had helped Manchester United briefly return to the top of the table. Silva’s 53rd-minute tap-in at the far post from close range, after Wojciech Szczesny parried a fierce shot by Mario Balotelli and Sergio Aguero nodded on the rebound, settled an end-to-end thriller at the Etihad. Manchester City have suffered just one defeat this season and that was away from home against Chelsea, however their away form is barely inferior to their home form having scored 25 goals in their 8 matches on the road. City have looked quite normal against a few of the big teams, except the 6-1 thrashing they handed Manchester United, but their class and dominance they have shown against the smaller Premier League teams has been consistent. Even if they were to lose all 4 matches against Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool in the 2nd round, they still show no sign of not convincingly beating the likes of teams like West Brom week in and week out. Roberto Mancini has succeeded in getting the very best out of his stars; David Silva, Yaya Toure, Micah Richards, Sergio Aguero and the list goes on.
West Brom won’t make it easy for the visitors, however the talented City team are tipped for one of their goal fest wins.
