The Etihad Stadium will be the venue where the reigning English Champions, Manchester City, will take on Welsh boys Swansea City in Premier League match number nine. A recent study about the ‘Price of Football’ has revealed that Manchester City offer the second cheapest season ticket in the league, something to pride themselves on considering they could significantly raise the prices due to the quality of football they offer – although what does a few more quid on a season ticket mean to the Sheiks!
ManCity are currently 3rd in the Premier League, and although it is still early in the season, they will still want to stamp their authority and send out a message that they’re out to retain their title. They have started off in reasonable form, gaining 15 points out of a possible 21. At home they have won 3, drawn 1 and lost 0, the kind of form that they will want to keep up throughout the season. On the road they have won once and drawn twice, along with Chelsea, they are the only teams in the Premier League not to have lost yet. In total they have scored 15 goals and conceded 8, Dzeko and Tevez both leading the way with 3 goals each. City go into this on the back of a tough week as they travel to the midlands to play in form West Brom and then are required to fly out to the Netherlands Tuesday night with a tough task against AFC Ajax; before jetting back to host Swansea on the Saturday back in Manchester.
11th placed Swansea have started the season comfortably and that is the exact position they finished last year under the management of Brendan Rogers. They are now under the guidance of Michael Laudrup and will certainly prove his worth if he can emulate last year’s performance and lead Swansea to a mid table finish or higher. There have been recent reports that there is player unrest among the dressing room although Laudrup himself and the club have come forward and denied all speculation. On the pitch, Laudrup has said that one of the most important things this week is to keep a clean sheet in what could prove to be a pivotal fixture for his team. In the space of 2 weeks Swansea face two tough away trips to Manchester City and Liverpool midweek before heading back to Wales to hold European Champions Chelsea.
This exact fixture was the opening game of the season last year and it was the Sky Blues that thrashed Swansea 4-0. The return fixture told a different story as Swansea nicked a 1-0 win at The Liberty Stadium so the spoils were shared last year, will it be the same this season?
