Swansea can trouble City

Mar 10, 2012 - Abhishek Parameswaran

So on the back of last weekend’s results, it’s fair to say that Tottenham Hotspur are out of the title race leaving the two Manchester clubs to battle it out for the Premiership trophy.

Manchester City have the trickier fixture this weekend, away to Swansea City on Sunday. Swansea have a pretty impressive home record for a newly promoted team. They have lost only to Manchester United and Norwich City; managed to hold Chelsea and Tottenham to draws and have beaten Arsenal. Furthermore, Brendan Rodgers’ team is very capable of playing attacking football with the exceptional use of their wide players, Scott Sinclair and Nathan Dyer. Manchester City possess the firepower, yet any form of complacency will see them struggle to break down the Welsh outfit.

Their title opponents, Manchester United play host to West Bromwich Albion. The Baggies have the fourth best away record in the League. And as Blackburn have shown, the reigning champions have not been invincible at home this season. There has been a lot of talk about United having the easier run-in, but as any sportsperson will testify, it is far easier turning up for the big games than to bring your A-game against an inferior opponent.

Meanwhile, Tottenham face a daunting task away to Everton. Whether Tottenham can reverse their recent decline in such trying circumstances is to be seen. If they falter, Arsenal may see this as their chance to make a dash for the third place. However, they themselves face Newcastle United, who, if they win, will be within two points of fourth place. In between these two in the table are Chelsea. Roberto di Matteo’s first league match as interim manager is against Stoke City and one can only wonder whether Chelsea’s players would have come out of the sulk to make a late charge for Champions League qualification.

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