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Manchester City will look to give their ailing Champions League campaign the shot in the arm it needs when they travel to Spain to take on Villarreal on Wednesday.
While the Blues picked up a precious win against the Yellow submarines when the sides met two weeks ago thanks to a last gasp Sergio Aguero goal, Roberto Mancini’s men know that anything less than three points will leave them well off the pace behind group rivals Bayern Munich and Napoli with two tough games against each of those sides to come.
The good news for City fans is that Villarreal find themselves in the middle of a horrendous slump in form that has left them with just ten points from their opening ten games and their coach Juan Carlos Garrido under pressure to turn things around.
Just one win from their last seven games has left Villarreal down in 13th place in La Liga and rock bottom of Group A,- where they have lost all three of their group games so far – and to compile their misery they go into the game with the Premier League leaders with an ever increasing injury list.
Marcos Senna, Marco Ruben, Cani and Cristian Zapata all picked up knocks in the morale sapping defeat against Rayo Vallecano to join star striker and leading goal scorer Giuseppe Rossi on the sidelines.
The Italian international has been so far the only bright spot for Garrido’s side but will now be out for around six months – hammer blow to Villarreal’s chances of making out of the group or claiming a spot for next season.
There was at least a glimmer of light for Villarreal after World Cup winner Carlos Marchena declared himself fit for the game, while full back Angel may make take to the field for the first time since January, although Garrido is unlikely to throw him straight back in at the deep end.
City go into the game with a clean bill of health, with Kolo Toure in contention to play after completing his drugs ban, while Mario Balotelli is also in line for a call up having finished his three game suspension.
Adam Johnson has hit a rich vein of form of late in front of goal and may be selected on the wing, while Edin Dzeko is expected to drop back down to the bench following the return of Balotelli,
Match Winner
Manchester City are the favourites to pick up a much needed three points in Spain and set up a dramatic race for the two qualification spots from Group A. Paddy Power are offering 8/13 on a City win while VC Bet’s offer of 11/2 for a home victory is perhaps indicative of the state of Villarreal at the moment.
The draw is 16/5, also with @ VC Bet.
First Goal Scorer
Given the depth of talent Manchester City possess in attack the difficulty in predicting who will be the first goal scorer often comes from predicting who will start the game.
With Balotelli back and available for European action, the Italian is among the favourites to score first. Bet365 have him at 5/1 with only Sergio Aguero – at 9/2 with BoyleSports – better priced than him.
David Silva is perhaps the form player in the Premier League at the moment and should be in the thick of the action, so backing him at 7/1 with BetFred may be wise, while Nilmar is the leading prospect for Villarreal is 9/1 with Bet365.
