The Match
Manchester City are some away form away from waltzing the league. At home (where we've got to play them), they've won six of six this season, scoring twenty-six goals in the process and conceding only two - including 7-0 and 6-0 wins in their last two home league outings. Away from the Etihad, however, they've conspired to lose four of six, and draw another meaning they've only won once on the road. They'll surely be expecting to roll over the Swans, despite Pellegrini's comments in the press this week about their defence still needing work.
Swansea again suffered a loss in front of their own fans on Thursday night against Valencia, and they'll be up against it at the Etihad given City's home form. A couple of injuries picked up in the Europa League game won't have helped Laudrup's preparation, and without star forwards Michu and Bony it'll surely be up to Alvaro Vazquez to lead the line - it's a massive opportunity for him and if he can produce something special it could give him the confidence boost he needs to kick on and show what he can do on a regular basis.
Prior Form (Most recent at top)
Team News - provided by Physioroom.com's Ben Dinnery
Man City
The disappointing news for Swans supporters is that striker Sergio Aguero will be available after his planned withdrawal at half-time in the Champions League on Wednesday, manager Pellegrini confirmed post-match that his substitution was tactical & not because of any lingering injury problems. Jack Rodwell is back after more time in the treatment room but can only hope for a place on the bench while Nastasic (calf) has been ruled out for three weeks. Vincent Kompany returned to training & is fit, but the captain will not be risked. David Silva & Jovetic remain side-lined & hope to return for the UCL tie against Bayern Munich.Swansea City
Swansea City have a mammoth task which after Thursday nights’ disappointing Europa League defeat to Valencia just got a little harder. Michael Laudrup will be without the services of Wilfried Bony (hamstring) who could be out for around a month, while this game will come too early for Michu. The Spanish star could be available for Newcastle United on Wednesday. Full-back Angel Rangel is expected to miss out with a recurrence of an ongoing calf problem but Wayne Routledge is close after recovering from a similar injury. Leon Britton (toe) should be available while captain Ashley Williams was rested midweek given his well-documented ankle troubles. Gary Monk (knee) the only long-term absentee.Completely guessed lineups
Statistics & Trivia
- Man City have won 14 and lost just one of their last 16 Barclays Premier League games at home (D1 L1).
- Swansea City have not won back to back Barclays Premier League matches since December 1st 2012.
- Swansea have scored just one goal in four Barclays Premier League games against Man City and none in their two meetings at the Etihad Stadium.
- All six of the goals in games between Man City and Swansea in the Premier League have been netted in the second half.
- Sergio Aguero has scored nine goals in his last seven Premier League appearances.
- Manchester City are the first side to score 26 goals in their opening six top-flight home games of a season since Sunderland (26) in 1935-36.
- Man City have conceded fewer goals in the first half of matches than any other team in the top flight this season (3).
- Man City have scored with 22% of their shots this season, the best conversion rate in the Premier League and also fired in the most shots on target (81).
- Man City managed 15 shots on target in Swansea's first ever Premier League match in August 2011 which still remains the most shots on target the Swans have given up in a single game.
- City are the only team in any of the four English leagues to have a 100% home record.
- They have scored in 56 consecutive Premier League home games, 10 short of the record of 66 held by Manchester United.
- Among players with at least 40 Premier League goals, Sergio Aguero has the best minutes-per-goal ratio in the competition's history (119.5).
- Swansea have won two, drawn two and lost two of their six league matches immediately following a midweek European match.
Straight from the horse's mouth
Neil Taylor acknowledges the scale of the task at hand, but insists the Swans are only concentrating on their own game:
"I think City away is the biggest challenge for anyone in this league with the way they play. They're expansive and they look like one of Pellegrini's teams so I think it's a difficult game for us.
"Spurs were under par against them last week, but with the players they've got like Aguero, Edin Dzeko and Negredo, they've got four or five front players who would get in any team in the Premier League.
"They're playing really well. Pellegrini's teams are all or nothing, and at the moment it's the former. They're getting goals and even if they concede a couple they're likely to outscore you, but we'll concentrate on ourselves."
http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/9049842/?
Michael Laudrup has echoed Huw's recent comments about believing you can compete with the big sides:
"You can't play with fear in football. There is a lot of respect, you have respect for everybody, the ones on top and the bottom, but never fear. They are best home team in the league so we know it will be a tough afternoon, but we can only surprise there.
"Everybody expects City to win by some goals because they've done that against everybody, including Manchester United and Tottenham. I think we will go there to do the best we can to get something out of it, and whatever happens we will still present a competitive team."
http://uk.soccerway.com/news/2013/November/30/laudrup-positive-ahead-of-city-trip/?
Analysis
The more I think about this game, the more my head hurts. The wealth of talent available to Manuel Pellegrini makes it, on paper, a complete mismatch and a couple of comments I've seen in the week about how "we need to play to the best of our ability and hope City have an off day" are probably on the button.
Given some of the Swans recent performances, you could be forgiven for approaching this fixture with trepidation. I'm struggling to see how we can get anything out of this, but football is mad and you never know. Fingers crossed we'll defy the form book and pull off a famous victory.
I think "analysis" was a bit ambitious...