5 Reasons Why Manchester City Will Beat As Roma Tonight

Etihad Stadium being a fortress: Last season saw just a handful of teams, both from the league and the Champion’s league beat City at their home turf. Though they have not fully lifted off their feet and got going, the Etihad remains a fortress for them, and numerous teams have received bashings at the Etihad. Stats have it that only Bayern and Barcelona have beaten City at home. Food for thought right? Oh, home support also does have its advantage as well, expect to see the fans performing the Poznan.

Roma without Seven Players in their Starting Lineup: Roma are faced with injuries to some of their key players. The likes of Kevin Strootman, Federico Balzaretti, Daniele De Rossi,Davide Astori, Salih Ucan, Marco Borriello and Leandro Castan are all unavailable to feature against City due to injuries, and this gives a bit of edge to city who are not daunted by injuries due to the immense depth of talent in the team.

Jinxed? : kickiff.co.uk is pointing out the fact that Roma “have a wretched recent record in England in this competition, losing on all five of their visits since the start of April 2007. Interestingly, three of these defeats have come just down the road at Old Trafford” . Hopefully this encounter will be another case of Roma being jinxed.

Form: Both teams are in top form however, City appear to be hitting their best form just about now. Seven goals against Sheffield Wednesday and another four against Hull city is a pointer towards this. Also, city players know the consequences of losing against Roma, and will want to guide against complacency. Against Bayern, City controlled the match early, and should have won or drawn, so expect hunger and goals a lot in this match. Therefore, much will be expected from Aguero,Yaya Toure and David Silva.

Tactics: Eventually, City will be looking up to Pellegrini to come up with a tactical strategy to defeat Roma. How he deals with Gervinho (who scored a brace against CSKA), Totti and other players of Roma will be decisive. Hence he must include Milner in the team to allow Zabaleta rampage down the flanks and link up with Silva to torment Maicon. Milner has proved in the last three matches he has started that he is dependable as attested to by Hazard, therefore, Milner should be given the task of keeping Gervinho quiet, and he can be trusted to do just that. Also, City will take the game to Roma, and if Roma allows City to dictate the play, then its game over for them.

Expect City to go all out to win this match, and the subsequent ones. And to advance to the Semi-Final as they have certainly come of age.