City desperately need to get back on form after a very rough couple of months, and Saturday’s visit of Swansea City could be the perfect opportunity – or the most recent ‘perfect opportunity’ in a whole string of them. With several bad performances in recent weeks, City need to show they’re still in the title race and can push Chelsea all the way, even if the London side are several points clear of The Blues at this point.
This is the first time City have met Swansea since New Year’s Day last season, when The Blues made the trip to South Wales to face a tough Swans side. City took the lead early in the first half thanks to a goal from Fernandinho, and tried to push on, but Wilfried Bony made sure his side would go in level, with a goal just before the break made it 1-1. Within 20 minutes of the restart, City were 3-1 up and on their way to victory thanks to goals from Yaya Touré and Aleksandar Kolarov, but Bony pulled another back in the final minutes to make the final score look less convincing on paper.
In the equivalent fixture in December last year, when the Swans made the trip to Eastlands, it ended in another City win, although in a more convincing fashion than the one at the Liberty; Álvaro Negredo scored the opening goal before Samir Nasri netted a brace (and could easily have had a hattrick) to earn The Blues a 3-0 victory on home turf.
City are without some important players ahead of the visit of the Welsh side, but some good news is that Vincent Kompany is winning his race to be fit for the visit of Garry Monk’s team. The Belgian captain picked up an injury just before the QPR game and missed the draw with QPR as a result, but could easily be fit to face Swansea on Saturday. David Silva (knee), Aleksandar Kolarov (calf) and Edin Džeko (calf) are all still out, but City will feel they have the players to cope with those absentees.
Swansea could regain the services of two big wingers ahead of Saturday’s visit to the champions. Nathan Dyer and Wayne Routledge have both been out with groin injuries, but could both be back fit in time to travel to Manchester. However, Federico Fernandez (calf) is still set to be out for a couple of weeks, whilst Ashley Richards (knee) and Rory Donnelly (ankle) are both out of the City match.
For both teams, a win on Saturday could do a world of good, but for very different reasons. Swansea currently sit 5th in this season’s Premier League, but have won just 2 of their last six both home and away, but a win at the Etihad could do what it does to every team that wins here: it could invigorate the Welsh side and turn their form right around, helping them fight to stay where they are in the table.
On the other side of things, City need a win to try assure the watching thousands they’ve still got fight in the title race. After taking hits in all three competitions in recent weeks, they need something to turn it around and show Chelsea why they need to be worried. Saturday could be the best chance to do that before some tough games (including Southampton away in just over a week), and who knows? A win could just galvanise the squad to make them go on and fight all the way to the title.
