Silva Antics, Mancini Tactics and Platty Schematics all needed Monday

Monday night will see Mancini’s men travel to the DW Stadium for their Premiership match against Wigan. The first time these two sides met in a League match was only back in 1998 when City had fallen to their lowest position of their history. Both teams have made great strides since that time and, although the gap is vast with City currently top of the table and Wigan second from bottom, both teams have struggled in recent weeks. 

City, of course, have back to back home Cup defeats and so a match away from the Etihad may be a welcome break right now. that said, their last two away League games have yielded no goals and just the single point. Wigan, however, have only won the single game in ten at their own ground and so City, even without their Ivorian midfielder and inspirational rock of a captain should have more than the Lactics can handle. 

City have only played Wigan fifteen times in the regular league in their history and are slightly the better off when it comes to victories. City winning seven to Wigans five. That said, the last defeat against Wigan came on September 28th 2008 and, just like Monday it was at their place. City have already played Wigan once this season with the result being a 3-0 victory for City. A similar result for City on Monday night would be just the tonic the doctor ordered. 

Mario Balotelli will be a doubt for the game but signs are promising that David Silva will be back. That will come as some relief to City fans who watched the last outing, against Liverpool in the Carling Cup when it seemed we didn’t know how to penetrate that backline. Had Silva played I am sure he could have unlocked that setting Aguero off with a reverse pass or some such magic. 

Both of City’s title rivals, United and Spurs, play on Saturday and so it could potentially be all three on the same points as City kick off. Hopefully City can get back to resembling the sort of side that would tear defences apart and with a solid win here then that should restart our form in the direction it should be rather than where it had been heading. A defeat however, while not disastrous, would be a serious dent in any title ambitions. But then again, we are City. When have we ever done anything the easy way?

PA Cityboy

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