Poor Cardiff City! They had a win over Chelsea, then a draw with Chelsea taken away from them by the officials yesterday, and that result inflicted massive damage on their chances of staying up in the Premier League for next season.
And now what’s next for them? The hardest date, at least on paper, of the entire schedule- a trip reigning champion and quadruple contending Manchester City. As you can expect, the prognosticators expect to this be a one-sided affair. let’s take a look at the fitness situation for both sides, starting with the visitors.
The following Bluebirds will be out with long-term injuries for this one: Sol Bamba and Callum Paterson. Meanwhile Jazz Richards is still struggling with a hamstring problem.
Shifting over to the hosts, scoring sensation Sergio Aguero limped out of the win at Fulham this past weekend, after contributing a goal and an assist. Having missed a light training session yesterday, he is a doubt for this one.
“He says he felt something, but hopefully he’s not injured,” City manager Pep Guardiola said after Saturday’s lopsided win at Craven Cottage.
“He decided on not continuing. Hopefully it will not be a big issue. We will see tomorrow, maybe the day after tomorrow.”
Aguero may just be rested/not risked for this one. Defenders Vincent Kompany, Benjamin Mendy and Fabian Delph are also doubtful, and back-up goalkeeper Claudio Bravo remains a long-term injury absentee.
Cardiff City at Manchester City FYIs
Manchester City Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Kick-off is Wednesday April 3, City of Manchester Stadium 7:45 pm GMT.
The Form Guide looks as follows- Manchester City WWWWW, Cardiff City LWLLL
The Google Prediction Result Probability shows a Man City win at 91%, a Draw at 7%, and a Cardiff victory at 2%.
The Betting Odds via Odds Checker are Manchester City 1/12, Draw 15/1, Fulham 45/1
Manchester City media activities will be held in the press conference room in the media zone at the City Football Academy campus, at 1.30pm on Tuesday 2 April.
The embargoed section of the press conference will be held until 10.30pm on Tuesday 2 April.
Final Score Prediction: City 3, Cardiff 0
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.