Sunday, January 9, 2011

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09-01-2011 17:00 Leicester City - Manchester City

Hoping To Come Out On Top
Leicester will be hoping that they can pull off a shock when they face Manchester City at the Walkers Stadium on Sunday afternoon. City manager Roberto Mancini played five games for the Foxes at the end of his career in 2001, whilst their striker Darius Vassell had a short spell at City.

Foxes fans will be hoping that Vassell is on the score-sheet on Sunday - the former England international has scored 59 league goals during his career in England and Turkey and remarkably has never been on the losing side when he’s found the net.

Leicester have gone 24 games since their last 0-0 draw and won eight of the 17 games Eriksson has presided over. The former England manager is yet to lose a home game and will be hoping that run continues for Sunday's game.

Eriksson has never managed a team against his former side City and his last competitive match in charge at Eastlands was an 8-1 loss to Middlesbrough.

Hoping To Maintain Good Record
Manchester City will travel to Leicester in a confident mood as they are unbeaten in their last six visits at the Foxes' home - their last loss coming back in 1988.

Sunday's clash will be the 14th FA Cup meeting between the two sides - City have only faced Tottenham that many times in this competition. Roberto Mancini's men have also won the last five meetings of the two teams in the cup.

City fans will be buoyed by news that their side are unbeaten at the Walkers Stadium, recording a win and a draw in their only two fixtures at the relatively new ground.

History is on the away team's side, with City recording a 1-0 win when the two teams met in the 1969 FA Cup Final.


TEAM NEWSLeicester City

Leicester City have been handed good news after the club revealed on Friday that Tottenham loanee Kyle Naughton will be available for Sunday's clash with Manchester City.

The young defender was due to return to his parent club but the Foxes have extended his loan until the end of the season - meaning he can feature in the FA Cup this weekend.

Leicester will be without striker Roman Bednar and defender Curtis Davies who have returned to West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa, respectively, after their loan deals expired.

Possible Starting XI: Weale; Naughton, Hobbs, Morrison, Berner; Abe, Wellens, King; Dyer, Vassell, Gallagher.
Manchester City

Manchester City could welcome back Mario Balotelli for the FA Cup clash with Leicester after the Italian striker missed the 0-0 draw against Arsenal with a knee injury.

While Balotelli may return, midfielder David Silva will not feature, with Roberto Mancini hopeful that the Spaniard's knee injury will have healed in time for their next league fixture against Wolves.

City received some good news on Friday when the FA overturned the red card received by Pablo Zabaleta at the Emirates Stadium in midweek - meaning the Argentinian is eligible to face the Foxes on Sunday.

Possible Starting XI: Hart; Richards, Lescott, Kompany, Zabaleta; A. Johnson, Barry, De Jong, Y. Toure, Milner; Tevez.


Prediction
Leicester are strong at the Walkers Stadium and I expect their fans to get behind them and create an intimidating atmosphere for the highly-paid Manchester City stars on Sunday.

While Leicester will certainly take the fight to Mancini's men, assistant boss Brian Kidd has revealed that City will not make the same mistake as in the past and will field a strong eleven for the tie.

Players like Yaya Toure, Carlos Tevez and Adam Johnson should have too much class for Leicester - but I expect the Championship side to put up a good fight.

Leicester 1-2 Man City