Match Preview: Southampton vs Manchester City

City face tough trip to South Coast after win at West Brom

By Aaron Leggott

After Wednesday's 3-2 win at West Brom, Manchester City are set to travel away from the Etihad for the second time in four days, with a tough trip to Mauricio Pochettino's invigorated Southampton team next on the agenda.

After his appointment as successor to Nigel Adkins in January, many were critical of the decision and predicted the Saints might seriously struggle to stay in the Premier League.

Photo: Paul Watts/Southampton FC

What has happened since then is quite extraordinary. Under the Argentine, Southampton secured Premier League survival with ease, before taking the next step this season.

Match Preview: West Brom vs Manchester City

City looking to break away curse in the Midlands

By Aaron Leggott

The Premier League has seen a real Jekyll and Hyde version of Manchester City this season. At the Etihad Stadium, they are ruthless - seven wins out of seven and a goal difference of +23 sees the Blues stand out from the pack. 

It's a different story away from east Manchester though; with just one win in six, Manuel Pellegrini's men sit in a meagre 15th place in the away form table - a worrying stat for any title challenger.

City have enjoyed a number of wins against West Brom over the past few years
Photo: Official MCFC Facebook

However, after three successive wins, the Blues go into their clash against West Brom in high spirits and realistic of hopes of turning around their away form ahead of the festive period.

Match Reflection: Manchester City 4 - 2 Viktoria Plzeň

Pellegrini's progressors show Hart against a vivacious Viktoria Plzeň 

By Adam Bailey

Manchester City's impeccable home record almost suffered a frightening blow on Wednesday night as a vibrant Viktoria Plzeň side launched a full scale assault inside the Etihad Stadium.

A relaxed home crowd, buoyed by their side's progression into the last 16 of the Champions League, were treated to yet another goalscoring flurry on home territory. Seven changes were made to the outfit that savaged Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday afternoon and a shaky defence had their attackers to thank in a below par performance.

Photo: Official MCFC Facebook

Match Preview: West Ham United vs Manchester City

City looking to improve away record in Capital

By Rebecca Halliwell

Tomorrow Manchester City are set to face West Ham United. In last year’s corresponding fixture, the Hammers held the Blues to a goalless draw with West Ham incorrectly having a goal ruled out for offside. Last season, Manchester City struggled to find any away form and even though they were unbeaten at that stage in late November, they had lost ground in the title race. This season is proving to be similar with the Blues having lost to Cardiff and Aston Villa despite being in front, as well as a draw with Stoke.

Photo: Official MCFC Facebook

Manchester City 1 - 3 Bayern Munich: Thoughts and Ratings

By Aaron Leggott

My thoughts

I'll start this off by saying that I wasn't too surprised with the result on Wednesday. A lot of City fans went into the game thinking we could at least match the quality of Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich - but the match proved their superiority - not only over City, but the rest of Europe as well.

The front six of Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Arjen Robben, Toni Kroos, Franck Ribéry and Thomas Müller was used to devastating effect, with Micah Richards describing the game as playing against an extra man. 

Photo: Official MCFC Facebook

Match Preview: Manchester City vs Bayern Munich

City set to take on European Champions

By Aaron Leggott

After a convincing win in the Czech Republic a fortnight ago, Manchester City are getting ready to face a totally different challenge this evening in the Champions League.

That challenge comes in the form of current holders Bayern Munich, who travel to the Etihad for the second time in three years. That game saw City come out as comfortable 2-0 winners, but it was essentially a dead rubber with Bayern resting a number of key players.

Photo: Official MCFC Facebook

In the Spotlight: FC Bayern Munich

No. 7: Previous meetings, Pep Guardiola and Franck Ribéry

By Aaron Leggott

Our first Champions League game at the Etihad Stadium this season sees the Blues pit their wits against the current holders, Bayern Munich. We caught up with Enis Köylü (@eniskoylu) - a German and Turkish football expert who works as a sub editor and site manager for Goal. 

Photo: Official Bayern München Facebook

Match Preview: Aston Villa vs Manchester City

City looking to continue their impressive form

By Alex Mason

Manchester City should be sky high with confidence after winning their first game in the Champions League since 2011, and destroying local rivals Manchester United in the derby last week. 

City will be looking to build on their 12 goals in the last three games
Photo: Official MCFC Facebook

This weekend, they take on Aston Villa - a team that the Blues love to play. City have defeated Villa 18 times in the Premier League, more than any other team in the league. The last time Villa beat City was in 2011, courtesy of a Darren Bent goal. 

Match Reflection: Manchester City 4 - 1 Manchester United

City ease to derby victory

By Alex Mason

Manuel Pellegrini must be wondering what all the fuss is about when it comes to Manchester derbies. His vibrant City side demolished United for 60 minutes, which was enough to make them 4-1 winners. The game was the first for United manager David Moyes too, who had a look of concern when Howard Webb blew the full-time whistle.

Aguero opens the scoring for City
Photo: Official MCFC Facebook

United started the game well when Danny Welbeck capitalised on Vincent Kompany’s sliced clearance. It was then City’s tempo and enthusiasm that saw Nemanja Vidić's pass go straight into the path of Jesús Navas, his tame effort went easily over the bar and he should have done better. The first yellow card of the derby was awarded to Matija Nastasić for his robust aerial challenge which saw him flatten United defender Chris Smalling.

City’s possession and will power saw them take the lead on the 15th minute when Samir Nasri cleverly played in Aleksander Kolarov to find Sergio Agüero from 15-yards. Agüero's cheeky flick saw him score his 50th Manchester City goal, and a goal worthy of winning any game.

Viktoria Plzeň 0 - 3 Manchester City: Thoughts and Ratings

By Aaron Leggott

My thoughts

I'll be honest with you all - after last weekend's rather abject performance against Stoke City, I was starting to wonder how long it'd take for Manuel Pellegrini to bed in and implement his ideas properly. 

I was also worried about the forthcoming week, which saw us play the Czech champions and of course, United on Sunday.

But, the players put in a truly brilliant European performance and put themselves in a strong position to build upon that result, and in turn qualify for the knockout phases in the new year. 

I was particularly impressed with Samir Nasri. After some recently deserved criticism, he bounced back against Plzeň and delivered what we all came to expect of the Frenchman when he joined for £25 million in 2011.

Photo: Official MCFC Facebook

Match Preview: Viktoria Plzeň vs Manchester City

Kompany expected to return for City's first Champions League game

By Aaron Leggott

City have travelled to Eastern Europe for their first Champions League game of the season with a big boost after it was announced that Vincent Kompany is set to return to the side to face Viktoria Plzeň, the current Czech champions.

Most are predicting a comfortable victory for Manuel Pellegrini's men, but with Plzeň still yet to lose after eight domestic games, City might be in for quite a shock in the Czech Republic.

The task will not be made any easier as defenders Gaël Clichy and Micah Richards are doubtful, whilst new signing Martin Demichelis misses out once again thanks to a knee injury.

Photo: Official MCFC Facebook

Match Preview: Stoke City vs Manchester City

City looking to end poor record at the Britannia

By Alex Mason

The last time the Blues beat Stoke City away from home in the First Division was in 1982, with the blues coming out 3-1 winners, explaining that Saturday's trip to the Potteries will be a difficult one as the Blues will be set to have their work cut out. Last season's away record was evidently the reason why bitter rivals Manchester United won the title as City, under previous manager Roberto Mancini, dropped a massive 24 points.

"From Z to A" - Aguero and Zabaleta will be hoping to capitalise on Argentina's World Cup Qualification this week
Photo: Official MCFC Facebook

Fast forward to this season, and Manuel Pellegrini’s side looked a bit nervous against two newly promoted sides in Cardiff City and Hull City. However, Pellegrini will be pleased that his new look side still managed to score four goals within the two games, but there will be a number of defensive worries, with the team looking totally different without captain Vincent Kompany.

Blue Review: Martín Demichelis

Player Profile: Martín Demichelis

By Archie Barnett

The last Blue Review saw Aaron Leggott look into the past at Manchester City's youth academy player - now a QPR player - Nedum Onuoha's career. This week however will see us look very much at the present and will be a short profile on new defender, Martín Demichelis.

The Argentinean defender signed for City on September 1, moving from Atlético Madrid despite only being at the La Liga club for less than two months.

Cardiff City 3 - 2 Manchester City: Thoughts and Ratings

By Archie Barnett

My thoughts

I think it's fair to say that despite losing to newly promoted Cardiff on Sunday, Manuel Pellegrini's team didn't necessarily play that badly. 

Of course, it is never encouraging when you get beaten by a much weaker side, but on the day we were just beaten by a more determined side and it was clear that they wanted the victory more than City did - sometimes these kind of results happen in football.

A bad day at the office defensively.
Photo: Official MCFC Facebook

Manchester City 4 - 0 Newcastle: Thoughts and Ratings

By Alex Mason

My thoughts

Last night’s game against Newcastle United was a walk in the park for many of the City players. This is mainly because Newcastle had 10 men for 45 minutes, and when your team is up against the likes of David Silva, Sergio Agüero and Yaya Touré, your team is in for a long game.

Photo: Official MCFC Facebook

There were a lot of positives out of last night’s game for City. However, an injury to captain Vincent Kompany will have City sweating, as they only have one fit centre-back in Joleon Lescott. Young prospect Matija Nastasić is out with an ankle injury, but he is expected to be back in training this week. City will need to recruit another centre-back if they are to win the Premier League. It will be very hard to play 38 Premier League games alongside the FA Cup, Capital One Cup and Champions League with only three recognised centre-backs. Of course Micah Richards and Javi García can fill in at centre-back, but I believe that they play better football in their regular positions.

Match Reflection: City 1 - 0 Sunderland

Dzeko goal secures the Barclays Asia Trophy for City

By Aaron Leggott

Despite the awful condition of the pitch at the Hong Kong Stadium, Edin Dzeko managed to score a magnificent goal to deliver the Barclays Asia Trophy to City - and hopefully the first of many this season.

In the grand scheme of things, the trophy is rather meaningless, with the main aim during pre-season to improve match fitness. But, Dzeko's sweet volley from 20 yards was an indication to Manuel Pellegrini that he will have a few sleepless nights when picking his first XI in three weeks time.

Photo: Official MCFC Facebook

Dzeko was named as the Player of the Tournament thanks to his performances as the Bosnian grabbed two goals in as many games and really should have had one more but for an awful penalty miss on the hour mark.

Match Reflection: Manchester United 1 - 2 Manchester City

"Aguerno?" Sergio silences Old Trafford crowd with superb winner

By Aaron Leggott

Magic - one of the many superlatives appropriate for the goal that closed the gap at the top of the Premier League to 12 points on Monday night.

David Silva, nicknamed Merlin, is more commonly seen by City fans as the magician in the team but Sergio Aguero's winner at Old Trafford created parallels to the goal which carved his name into the record books last May.

Agueeroooooooo: Sergio grabs the winner against United
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In terms of significance, the goals' were polar opposites - but Aguero's sudden turn of pace had Phil Jones and co. scrambling, just like against QPR. 

Perhaps it was fitting that an Argentine scored the winner on the day Margaret Thatcher died - but I'll leave that judgement to you.

Match Reflection: Manchester City 4 - 0 Newcastle

David Silva scores City's second of the game.

"Kaptain" Kompany returns as City record comfortable win

By Aaron Leggott

Roberto Mancini might have conceded the Premier League title, but his players aren't ready to give up on a strong finish to the season just yet.

Goals from Carlos Tevez, David Silva, Vincent Kompany and Yaya Toure ensured City strolled to victory at the Etihad Stadium yesterday.

And despite a couple of testing efforts from the visitors at the start of the second half, they were deservedly beaten and worries of relegation are increasingly looming upon the Magpies.

Match Preview: Manchester City vs Newcastle

Aguero set to return after injury

By Aaron Leggott

After missing the last three weeks of action through injury, City are ready to welcome back Sergio Aguero to the starting eleven after he recovered from the knee problem that kept him out.

There will also be a late fitness test for captain Vincent Kompany, who despite missing the past eight weeks, was picked to represent his country midweek as Belgium beat Macedonia 1-0. 

Considering he was out for so long, the decision taken by the Belgian boss Marc Wilmots hasn't been taken kindly by Roberto Mancini.

Match Reflection: Everton 2 - 0 Manchester City

Osman wonder strike sinks City's title hopes

By Aaron Leggott

It seems that City have all but conceded the title over to rivals Manchester United as yesterday's defeat ensured a 15 point difference between the two teams at the top of the league.

In truth, City did not deserve anything from the game at Goodison Park. With Sergio Aguero, Yaya Toure and Vincent Kompany all missing out, our task to win wasn't made any easier at a historically tough place for the Blues to visit.

Everton showed the fight, determination and spirit needed to beat the Champions and spectacular efforts from Leon Osman and Nikica Jelavic ensured City were leaving Merseyside without three points for yet another year.