Manchester City will be determined to return to winning ways when they host Sunderland on Thursday.
Sergio Aguero’s brace inspired City to come from behind and claim a 1-4 win against the Black Cats at the Stadium of Light in their last meeting.
Those were the last goals Aguero scored in the league before he picked up his knee injury. Manuel Pellegrini has impressively found ways to get goals and win without the genius of the Argentine at his disposal. They scored twice again last Sunday against Burnley but settled for a frustrating point after squandering a two-goal lead.
Pellegrini was understandably irritated because they had a chance to reduce the gap at the top of the league table to just a point since Chelsea had been held earlier in the day at Southampton. City play first on New Year’s Day and they could temporarily overtake Chelsea with a four-goal win before the Blues travel to Tottenham.
For Sunderland, the hope is to convert draws into wins as they have already drawn 11 of their 19 games so far, which is four more than any side this season. Manager Gus Poyet has been keen to keep distance between his side and the drop zone so he will hope to at least avoid defeat in this game to maintain the four-point gap between his side and the bottom-three.
In his pre-match conference, Poyet admitted that his side could do with better strikers because Steven Fletcher is the only forward with more than two goals this season. But he pointed out that getting affordable strikers who are in good form will be difficult because a lot of teams in trouble will be looking to invest.
Manchester City team news
Pellegrini revealed that Yaya Toure was not able to play 90 minutes against Burnley because of a groin injury and will be assessed further before a decision is made for this game.
Captain Vincent Kompany is recovering from a calf problem.
Fernando will miss out due to suspension.
Matija Nastasic, Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko remain on City’s long-term injured list.
Sunderland team news
Liam Bridcutt and Sebastian Larsson both picked up minor injuries at Villa and will be assessed prior to the trip to the Etihad.
Full-backs Patrick van Aanholt and Anthony Reveillere remain sidelined through injury.
Man City vs Sunderland Prediction
Stevan Jovetic is the only senior centre forward available so Pellegrini is likely to task him to lead the attack in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Should Toure be fit to start then he may partner Fernandinho as the central midfielders.
Poyet is expected to keep his 4-1-4-1 formation with Lee Cattermole returning to the starting XI as the holding midfielder, sitting just in front of the back-four. Fletcher may lead the attack again with Connor Wickham and Adam Johnson pushing on from midfield to support Sunderland’s top goalscorer.
City will dominate possession and keep play in the opposition half, in keeping with Pellegrini’s preference, and they will probably have to breakdown a compact Sunderland side that will defend their half in numbers.
The Black Cats should aim to contain City with their wide attacking midfielders tightly tracking back with the champions’ full-backs, while their central midfielders will harry Toure and Fernandinho in the middle of the park.
The key for City to break the Black Cats will be in their wide attacking midfielders, David Silva and Samir Nasri, as they have the quality to create good chances through intricate play in confined spaces.
If Silva and Nasri roam efficiently, like they usually do, then they will find pockets of space around Cattermole where Sunderland will struggle to deal with them.
