A lot has been made of the pitch conditions City are likely to face tomorrow. As I was sitting admiring the state of the pitch at Eastlands, as one does when excitement dips, against Wigan, part of me was thinking ahead to the potential contrast City may face against Burnley.
Suddenly the pitch has become a big problem - last weekend alone, the Blackburn camp scoffed at the playing conditions they found at Turf Moor (albeit a little more quietly than they would had they not taken the three points), and Arsene Wenger decided it was the pitch's fault that a dominant Birmingham team weren't comfortably beaten by his pass-masters. It reminds me of our Championship winning side's trip to Millmoor to play Rotherham - the side with Bernabia and Berkovic - where Rotherham openly neglected their groundkeeping duties in order to make for a more-even playing field, so to speak. A game that required an equaliser by Ali Bernabia to save our blushes. But when the gulf in resources between the two clubs is so high, then maybe other elements need to be taken into consideration to win football matches.
That same season saw our last trip to Turf Moor - a four-two win courtesy of a Shaun Goater hattrick - which, for me, will always be remembered (with the aid of that season's video) for the unlikely skill involved in the goal of the day: Richard Edghill picking up a deft backheel from Richard Dunne on the right before sweeping a cross into the path of Shaun Goater, who only needed to be fed to score. Sometimes the magic is all the better for coming from unlikely sources.
Of course, more recent form gives City the distinction of being the only team Burnley have managed to return from with a point on their travels this season, but the wider picture should give City confidence. Burnley only have one win in their last twenty-one matches and are looking like a beaten side. With their poor away form, this game will be vital to them if they are to stay in touch with Hull and West Ham in the battle for survival and City can expect, as Mancini says, a team fighting a battle at '200%'.
Selection issues for Mancini should sort out themselves. Zabaleta is suspended for the next two games and Micah Richards is on hand to fill in at right-back. You would imagine Barry will return for Vieira, but it depends on how Mancini will prioritise these games - with De Jong one yellow away from a similar two game ban, will he pull him out of this game to lessen the chance of missing Birmingham and United, or would it actually be better to get that out of the way before the end of season crunch games come along. Either way, Mancini seems to be settling with the attacking 4-4-2/4-2-4 formation and with a win and goals on his mind, I imagine he will be looking to attack from the off.
Probably team:
Given; Richards, Toure, Kompany, Garrido; Johnson, De Jong, Barry, Bellamy; Tevez, Adebayor.
In the build up to this game Mancini has said: "whether we play a team in the top four or the bottom four, the fact is that we still only get three points for the win." And this little truism is the key to success. If Mancini can get the players as motivated for the away trips to Burnley as for the derby games, for example, then that ruthlessness could be endlessly important in these last few games.
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