Manchester City v Portsmouth: Pompey to be the first victims to the new look Man City?
The Manchester City revolution tripped on the first hurdle last weekend and there were some critics (including one or two of our podcasters!) who weren’t the least bit surprised. As we all are very much aware, with money comes expectation and with the amount of money accessible to City, that expectation is mammoth. So winning is priority even more so now.
Well this is a good game for City to answer those critics with then considering Pompey have won none of their last 14 trips to City since 1963-64…Or, playing devils advocate, a City slip up could give those critics further ammunition.
It has tended to be an all or nothing method of play for Manchester City. It is 11 games since they last drew a league game - the longest current run in the top flight. And one man who would love to make this match an ‘all’ game is Benjani. The Zimbabwe forward scored in the corresponding fixture last season after moving from Portsmouth to Man City in the January transfer window. He will however have to make it on the team sheet, something that’s proved difficult with such a vaster squad.
Much was made of Rafa Benitez’s rotation policy last season but it is actually Manchester City fans who are playing a guessing game as to who’ll make the starting line up. City have had 21 different starters so far - more than any other team. And we all know what too many cooks tend to do!
On the other hand the Portsmouth team at the moment is pretty much choosing itself with one player in particular first on the Harry’s team list. Jermain Defoe has fired in more shots on target (9) than any other player and four of those have found the back of the net (two against Everton and both against Middlesbrough last weekend). Defoe has scored 11 goals in 16 games since moving to the south coast. Guess that sea air agrees with him! And he’ll need to maintain his A game in this one. Portsmouth have only scored three goals in their last four visits to Manchester City. They have also only kept one clean sheet in their last eight league games.
Pundits Pick: Portsmouth’s time in Manchester remain unprofitable (home win)
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Tags: Blues, footy 15, Manchester City, Match Preview, pompey, Portsmouth, Premier 10, Premier League
