It’s been a rough few weeks for Manchester City. Four straight games without a win for the first time in two years, and some tough games within that run. However on Wednesday, The Blues are back in action in the Capital One Cup against Sheffield Wednesday, with The Owls visiting Eastlands for the first time in 7 years. Wednesday have had a great start to the season and lie sixth in the Championship, but Manuel Pellegrini will see it as an opportunity to return to some kind of form.
The last time these two met was in the FA Cup Third Round, back in 2007. The original fixture was drawn at Hillsborough, where Georgios Samaras scored the sole City goal in a 1-1 draw. Almost two weeks later, The Owls came to Manchester, but left out of the competition thanks to goals from Steven Ireland and Darius Vassell. A lot has changed since then. To give you an idea, the City team that day was Weaver, Distin, Richards, Jordan, Dunne, Sinclair, Ireland, Barton, Dabo, Corradi, Vassell.
We are likely to see a very different team to the one put out on Sunday, with injuries and other priorities meaning Pellegrini probably won’t risk his big-name stars – at least not from the start. Some of these changes are forced however. Sergio Agüero (knee) and David Silva (ankle) both picked up knocks in the Chelsea game but could be back fit for the visit to Hull on Saturday, while Samir Nasri has picked up an injury in training and could be out for 10 days, meaning he’d miss the visit of Roma. Stevan Jovetić and Fernando both miss out on Wednesday with injuries that have kept them out for the last few games, whilst Zabaleta is also missing thanks to the suspension he picked up by being sent off against Chelsea.
Stuart Gray have a lot less to worry about in terms of injuries. Caolan Lavery is out, but he has been missing since the summer and that won’t concern Gray. In midfield, ex-Chelsea midfielder Sam Hutchinson is out as he has been for the past few weeks, as has ex-Manchester United player Kieran Lee. Giles Coke and José Semedo are likely to continue in central midfield for Wednesday in the cup.
After the takeover that never ended up happening in the summer, a lot of Wednesday fans feared the worst. Hafiz Mamadov was meant to come in and be the man who spent the money and took the risk Milan Mandaric never really wanted to. Due to a number of complications (some of them criminal) the takeover from the Azerbaijani businessman never occurred (despite being announced at the start of pre-season) and that left Wednesday fans worried.
However Mandaric continued to put his money into the club, signing Sam Hutchinson and ex-City goalkeeper Kieran Westwood in the summer, among other players. Whilst those players – especially Westwood, who has replaced England international Chris Kirkland in goal – have caught the eye for Wednesday, one man who there is real excitement about is Stevie May. Wednesday beat off heavy competition from Rotherham to sign the Scot to a four-year deal this summer, and so far he has impressed with his work-rate, his runs, and his eye for goal. The 21-year-old scored 27 goals in 49 games for St. Johnstone last season and that is the cause for much excitement amongst Wednesday fans. So far he’s scored 3 in 7 league games for The Owls, and is already looking a great signing.
After facing relegation in the last two seasons, Wednesday have really picked themselves up this season, and currently sit in sixth in the Championship, having only lost once this season. They’ve also kept 7 clean sheets in 10 games in all competitions. However, they’ll be under no illusions when they come to Manchester on Wednesday night, knowing that even the second-string team that Manuel Pellegrini is likely to play will be a tough challenge to overcome.
The Blues will also have to be wary of their visitors. Complacency has been the team’s downfall in cup games against smaller opposition in the last couple of seasons especially – notably Wigan in the FA Cup in the last two campaigns, Aston Villa in the League Cup in the season before last. That is something The Citizens must be careful to avoid. Wednesday might be “just a Championship team”, but they aren’t exactly a bad one.
One comforting statistic though, is that all cup games at City between the pair have all ended in home wins.
