MANCHESTER CITY v WEST BROMWICH ALBION
Barclays Premier League
Tuesday 7th May 2013, 7:45pm
Etihad Stadium

MATCH NOTES

Albion's last game on this date came in 2006, the Baggies ending the season with a 2-2 draw with Everton at Goodison Park, Zoltan Gera and Williams Martinez the goalscorers.

The last time Albion won on this date was at the end of the 1999/2000 season, Gary Megson's men beating Charton Athletic 2-0 at The Hawthorns to ensure League Division One safety.

City's last game on this date came in 2011 when they lost 2-1 away at Everton.

Youssouf Mulumbu will make his 150th Albion appearance if he plays a part in the game.

Albion have failed to score in four of their last five Premier League games against City.

On-loan striker Romelu Lukaku needs one goal to equal Peter Odemwingie's Albion club record of 15 Premier League goals in a season.

Albion's last six games: Wigan Athletic (H) 2-3; Southampton (A) 3-0; Newcastle United (H) 1-1; Arsenal (H) 1-2; West Ham United (A) 1-3; Stoke City (A) 0-0.

City's last six games: Swansea City (A) 0-0; West Ham United (H) 2-1; Spurs (A) 1-3; Wigan Athletic (H) 1-0; Chelsea (FA Cup SF at Wembley) 2-1; Manchester United (A) 2-1.

TEAM NEWS

Albion

Albion are likely to be without midfielder Chris Brunt (knee) and defender Goran Popov (calf) again after the duo missed Saturday's defeat against Wigan. Baggies' boss Steve Clarke will also have Marc-Antoine Fortune missing as the striker serves the second game of his three match suspension. 

Clarke will also have to decide whether to use Peter Odemwingie after the Nigerian striker had another falling out with fans whilst warming up as a substitute against Wigan.

Zoltan Gera and George Thorne remain sidelined with long-term injuries.

Squad from: Foster, Myhill, Jones, Ridgewell, McAuley, Olsson, Dawson, Thomas, Lukaku, Morrison, Dorrans, Rosenberg, Yacob, Long, Odemwingie, Tamas, Mulumbu.

Manchester City

Scott Sinclair is ruled out for City after the winger was admitted to hospital on Friday with a blood clot in his shoulder.

Manager Roberto Mancini may rotate his squad ahead of the FA Cup final against Wigan next weekend.

Yaya Toure picked up a knock in last weekend’s game against Swansea City so may be rested.

Squad from: Hart, Pantilimon, Zabaleta, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, K Toure, Nastasic, Clichy, Kolarov, Nasri, Silva, Barry, Y Toure, Garcia, Rodwell, Aguero, Tevez, Dzeko, Razak, Milner.

QUOTES

Baggies' boss Steve Clarke:

“It’s a good game. It’s the champions of last season and they will want to finish well. They always play well at home, they’re a good team and they have some fantastic players. It’s a challenge for us.

“The squad is a little bit stretched at the moment and I’ve had a good think about what I’m going to do tonight. I will get a team on the pitch that will go there and compete. Hopefully we’ll get a result that makes up for the disappointment of Saturday.

“They’ve got a squad of players that is packed full of internationals and quality. Whether Roberto chooses to play his full team in preparation for the final, or whether he chooses to make some changes, they will be a strong team. We are looking forward to what will be a difficult game.

“It’s a good game for us. There is no pressure on us going there, everybody expects us not to get a good result. But, inside our camp, we’re quite determined to make up for Saturday’s disappointment.”

www.wba.co.uk

City boss Roberto Mancini:

“We need to beat West Brom and get second position, then we can play the next three games with no problem. But West Brom are a good football side who have had a fantastic season and we will need to play well if we want to beat them.

“A good team should have a good mentality in this game and then we have four days to recover before the final. We need to play with five or six fresh players, for sure.”

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

MATCH ODDS

Result

Albion Win: 13/2, Manchester City Win: 2/5, Draw: 19/5.

First Goalscorer

Albion: Lukaku 10/1, Long 12/1, Odemwingie 16/1, Rosenberg 18/1, Brunt 20/1, Morrison 20/1, Thomas 25/1, Dorrans 25/1, Dawson 25/1.

Manchester City: Tevez 10/3, Aguero 3/1, Dzeko 4/1, Y Toure 6/1, Nasri 7/1, Silva 7/1, Lopes 8/1, Suarez 8/1, Razak 10/1, Kolarov 14/1, Milner 14/1, Garcia 14/1, Rodwell 16/1.

REFEREE

Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)

Dowd has refereed two Albion games this season - The 3-0 win against Liverpool at The Hawthorns on the opening day of the campaign and the goalless draw at home to West Ham in December.

The Staffordshire official has taken charge of three City games during 2012/13 - The 4-2 Capital One Cup defeat at home to Aston Villa in September, the 3-0 win at home to Watford in the FA Cup in January and the 0-0 draw against Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road in January.

Dowd has issued 121 yellow and five red cards in his 35 games this season.

WEATHER FORECAST

Partly cloudy, 19°C.

FIXTURE HISTORY

LAST LEAGUE MEETING AT THE ETIHAD STADIUM

Manchester City 4-0 Albion
Barclays Premier League
Wednesday 11th April 2012, 7:45pm

Manchester City: Hart, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, Silva (Zabaleta 81), De Jong, Barry, Nasri, Aguero (Dzeko 74), Tevez (Johnson 63). Subs not used: Pantilimon, Milner, Pizarro, Kolarov.

Goalscorers: Aguero 6, 54, Tevez 61, Silva 64.

Albion: Foster, Jones, Dawson, Olsson, Shorey, Cox, Mulumbu (Fortune 68), Scharner, Andrews, Dorrans (Tchoyi 78), Long. Subs not used: Daniels, McAuley, Odemwingie, Hurst, Roofe.

Attendance: 46,746

Referee: Kevin Friend (Leicestershire)

Carlos Tevez scored for the first time in 11 months as Manchester City sparked back into life to keep their faint title hopes alive on Wednesday night. Sergio Aguero struck twice and David Silva was on target in a routine defeat of West Brom as City, perhaps belatedly, showed why they were once firm favourites for the Barclays Premier League crown.

Manchester United's failure to beat Wigan meant the gap at the top was cut to five points, and with a derby to come the game may not yet be up, but it could still be too little too late. City suffered an apparently fatal blow to their title chances as they slumped to defeat at Arsenal on Sunday but they lived up to promises to go down fighting as they returned to the Etihad Stadium.

For much of the game they were a side far removed from the tension-ridden one of recent weeks and played much more like the carefree team they were in the autumn. City were without injured lynchpin Yaya Toure while the suspended Mario Balotelli was present only in an executive box. Tevez's first start since his much-publicised dispute with the club gave the side a different look while West Brom, making five changes after manager Roy Hodgson claimed they were virtually safe, offered little. They was a further change in the middle as referee Lee Mason, involved in controversy in United's weekend win over QPR, was replaced by Kevin Friend.

City began well with Aguero breaking into the box in the opening minutes and cutting back, only to have his shot blocked. The opener came after just six minutes as Aguero collected the ball midway inside the West Brom half and ran diagonally towards goal before lashing in a low shot past Ben Foster from 25 yards. City looked back to their best as Aguero and Samir Nasri combined to set up Tevez, but he blasted over. The fit-again Silva, whose outstanding early season form has tailed off in recent months, then skipped into the area and beat Foster only to get in a tangle with Tevez. Silva linked better with Tevez moments later but Foster parried his close-range shot. Micah Richards should have doubled the lead just after the half hour as he timed his run onto Tevez's pass perfectly and cut back to shoot past Foster, but Craig Dawson blocked on the line. Graham Dorrans shot straight at Joe Hart as West Brom made a rare foray forward but City began to slow as the first half wore on. Tevez turned nicely to release Silva but the Spaniard was caught and it was not until after the interval City regained their zest.

Nasri volleyed wide from a Silva cross soon after the restart and City really started to lift themselves as news filtered through to the crowd that United had fallen behind at Wigan. City's second came in the 54th minute as Nasri seized on a poor clearance and slipped in Aguero to slide the ball past Foster. It almost immediately got worse for the Baggies as Nasri found space and shot narrowly wide and Youssouf Mulumbu headed an Aguero cross-shot off the line. Tevez claimed his goal on the hour, the Argentinian finding himself in the right place to tuck home an Aguero cut-back from a Nasri pass. That proved Tevez's final involvement as he was replaced moments later by Adam Johnson but City continued to pour forward. A fourth goal duly arrived after Jonas Olsson conceded possession to Aguero and he quickly released Silva, who took the ball in his stride and sublimely chipped the advancing Foster. After that, City then seemed to put their cue on the rack and play out time. Edin Dzeko came on for the outstanding Aguero after 73 minutes and much of City's cutting edge appeared to go with the Argentinian. City seemed happy to wind down the clock safe in the knowledge that victory had been assured. Nasri attempted to set up Dzeko with a delicate chip in the closing moments but the Bosnian was unable to make the most of the opportunity.

Sporting Life

CURRENT CONNECTIONS

None

PAST CONNECTIONS

Amongst the players to have turned out at various levels for both clubs are: Peter Barnes, Paul Beesley, Tommy Broad, Gerry Creaney, David Cross, Andy Dibble, George Dorsett, Joe Dorsett, Frank Dyer, Tony Grant, Tony Grealish, Henry Hancock, Asa Hartford, Robert Hopkins, Derek Kevan, Steve MacKenzie, Ken McNaught, Ishmael Miller, Gary Owen, Bruce Rankin, Nicky Reid, Uwe Rosler, Barry Siddall, Jason van Blerk and Imre Varadi.

ALL-TIME LEAGUE & CUP RECORD VS MANCHESTER CITY