mancityblues.com

CLEVBLUE
Tony Mowbray is trying to convince his side that City are there for the taking this Sunday, they can "do a Fulham" and begin to fight for their survival at Eastlands.

He also says that even if they get relegated he will stick to his principles and play his brand of football, in fact they will play their way straight back out of the Championship. We can only respect such single-mindedness and hope that the owners of the club respect it too.

He defends his decision to stick with striker Marc-Antoine Fortune, leaving Luke Moore and Jay Simpson considering a move in the summer, on-loan Simpson being keen to return to the Emirates asap. It appears defenders Martis and Bedner may not be travelling up the M6 with the squad due to injury, so Sunday will present it's own difficulties for him. Not least of which will be an opposition still smarting from losing to Hamburg on Thursday. Beware the wounded tiger.

City have their own injury problems of course, with striker Craig Bellamy out; Shaun Wright-Phillips doubtful; Benjani, Hamann and Johnson still on permanent sick. Plenty on the plus side however, we have to marvel at the effort, skill and commitment of the team on Thursday night, only a stroke of luck in Hamburg's favour allowed them to progress into the semis.

Caicedo did enough to merit his place on Thursday, Robinho, Ireland and an exhausted Elano give Hughes food for thought in his team selection, De Jong will be back in contention thankfully as will Martin Petrov.
Kompany, Zabaleta, Richards, Onouha, Bridge and Dunne are all in the mix of course. It will be interesting to see how Dunne reacts to his over-excited display on Thursday which saw him red-carded. What a waste of effort from our Captain who made some crucial tackles but lost control of himself too often.

Hughes' famous total fitness regime should see the lads bounce back by Sunday's kick-off and they will be determined not to let the home crowd down again - wary of a side propping up the table of course, but I think we will be too strong for the Baggies this time.

You'll get a good price on West Brom, but I suggest you keep your money in your pocket, City will win this by two clear goals at least.

BLOOVIC
Lots of uncertainty regarding this game - who is fit enough to play, what kind of toll (both emotionally and physically) did the Hamburg game take etc. I think it's fair to say that we'll see a couple of fresh faces in the team on Sunday if only to give rests to the likes of Zabaleta, Ireland and Kompany. Richards looked dead on his feet on Thursday, too, so maybe it's time to give Logan a run-out, and perhaps Clayton may feature at some point. SWP is out according to reports, with Roman Bednar unlikely to feature for WBA due to injury.

On paper, City should have enough, even with one or two youngsters in the team, to beat West Brom, but this is City we're discussing so anything is possible. The Baggies are making noises about City being there for the taking and this game is possibly the last roll of the dice for Mowbray's men, so I expect a tough game with the first team to score gaining a big advantage. In City's favour, West Brom are woeful at the back and like to play open football, but as was realized in the 2-1 defeat at the Hawthornes, they cannot be taken for granted. WBA sit 5 points adrift of 17th placed Sunderland, but a win would certainly restore some hope for the Midlands outfit, and whilst 7th place is almost certainly out of reach for Hughes and company, they owe the City faithful a good performance this weekend.

BLUE TONES

I'd like to see this team

Given
Zabletta Kompany Onuoha Bridge

De Jong

Swp Elano Ireland Robinho

Bojinov