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City’s
whirlwind start at Craven Cottage looked like producing a most welcome
away win but by the final whistle City couldn’t really grumble with the
point they got.
A win against Everton on Saturday will make this
draw look that much better as City continue their run of games against
beatable opposition.
Injuries to star-man Robinho and Micah
Richards meant Mark Hughes couldn’t select the team he really wanted
to, but overall I’m sure he was happy with the display, although in the
first half City looked far from secure at the back.
Andy Johnson
and Bobby Zamora were impressive for the home side and maybe the bright
sunlight in their faces had something to do with City’s poor positional
play which allowed Jimmy Bullard to level the scores.
Pablo
Zabaleta had an outstanding game at right full-back, making numerous
runs down the right to supply plenty of excellent crosses, one of which
Benjani opened the scoring from.
The Argentinean also forced a
couple of good saves from Mark Schwarzer and his display shows how
effective full-backs can be in the modern game if they are encouraged
to get over the half-way line and supplement the attack.
It was a
good job Zabaleta did get forward as Mark Hughes played a very narrow
midfield system, presumably to smother Fulham’s central pairing of
Jimmy Bullard and Danny Murphy, who have performed well in Fulham’s
decent run of late.
Fulham was the first of five crucial league
games up to Dec 28th at Blackburn which City need to take plenty of
points from to go into the New Year in more confident mood.
Next
up at the City of Manchester Stadium tomorrow are one of my old sides,
Everton, still smarting from a 3-2 home defeat to Aston Villa but
bringing with them a very impressive away league record.
Their
usual good home form has deserted them this season and they sit in
eighth place in the league due mainly to their five away league
wins…City, you have been warned!
David Moyes favours a physically
imposing side and while the Toffees may not exhibit Everton’s famous
‘School of Science’ approach too often, they consistently finish in the
top six of the league by playing to their strengths.
Injuries to
top-scorer Yakubu along with Saha and Vaughan have severely hampered
Everton’s potency up front, but in true David Moyes style, the rest of
his players will take up the challenge of sharing the goals around.
To
that end, defender Joleon Lescott scored twice in the 3-2 Villa defeat
and aided by £15m record signing Fellaini, Yobo and Anichebe, serious
threats will be posed to Joe Hart’s goal at set-pieces expertly
delivered by the talented play-maker, Mikel Arteta.
Playing Everton represents another big test of City’s resolve and if the Blues can match
Everton’s strong-arm approach, three points are on the cards.
Robinho
and Richards should return from injury and although this game promises
to be far from pretty, City’s superior footballing style should see
them through to a narrow win.
The Chinch predicts: City 2-1 Everton
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