Injury Update

Roque Santa Cruz is set to be out for a month, the official site reports today. However, Stephen Ireland is expected to make the bench.

Wanye Bridge is expected to be back in about 10 days, with Lescott another 10 days on top of that.

Vieira Set for FA Cup Debut

Mancini has stated in an interview on the official site that new signing Patrick Vieira will not feature in the games against Everton, or the first leg of the Carling Cup. If all goes well, he is expected to play in the FA Cup against Scunthorpe.

In other injury news, Stephen Ireland is possibly in line to return against United on Tuesday, with Onuoha and Bridge also close to returning.

Blackburn Preview

With the Carling Cup semi-final postponed, Roberto Mancini has had a full week with his squad ahead of tonights game against Blackburn at Eastlands, although the weather will have no doubt limited the training the squad has been able to do. The game, which at the time of writing is still expected to go ahead, despite cold and icy conditions up and down the country, is the first since Patrick Vieira joined from Inter Milan, although he is not expected to feature due to injury. Shaun Wright-Phillips is also expected to be fit, and RSC is an outside chance to feature, as he battles to overcome his own injuries.

With our injuries, and players off in the African Cup of Nations, or on indefinite leave, Mancini is again limited in the choices he has to field in this game. Despite that, I would not expect Benjani or Weiss to hold onto their positions in the starting eleven. Whilst possible that Boyata will be handed a home debut, I would expect him to drop back to the bench, with Richards and Kompany the central defensive partnership. Zabaleta and either Sylvinho or Garrido should play in the full back positions.

In midfield, the sound partnership of Barry and De Jong will remain as holding midfield players. Ahead of them, I expect Petrov to keep his place after some solid performances, likely playing on the right wing. Bellamy should play on the opposite flank, with Tevez ahead of them. It would not surprise me if Robinho plays, and I believe he should start. He has had alot of time sidelined through injury, and needs game time, and a home game against Blackburn is a good chance for him to get some minutes on the clock and build up some confidence. He has shown signs in his last few appearances of improvement, particularly in this new more tactically solid side under Roberto Mancini. Playing in the hole behind Tevez will hopefully bring out some of his creativity, as too often he was marginalized on the wing. I would expect him to come off for Wright-Phillips in the second half.

So, all things considered, here is my team prediction:

--------------Given--------------
Zab---Richards--Kompany---Sylvinho
-------De Jong----Barry----------
Petrov--------Robinho------Bellamy
---------------Tevez--------------

I think this will be a tight game, but I think City will win 2-0.

Carling Cup Semi's Rearranged

With the weather affecting the games all across the country, the dates for the two legs of the semi-final are now:

Home Leg: Tuesday 19th January 7:45pm KO
Away Leg: Wednesday 27th January 8pm KO

The game against Stoke scheduled for the 27th to be played at a later date.

With the injuries affecting the squad and SAF's anger at the team that lost in the third round of the FA cup, this probably works out well for us.

So the fixtures for the rest of January look like this:

Mon 11th - Blackburn (H)
Sat 16th - Everton (A)
Tue 19th - United (H) CC Semi Leg 1
Sun 24th - Scunthorpe (A) FA CUP 4th Round
Wed 27th - United (A) CC Semi Leg 2
Sun 31st - Portsmouth (H)

Interestingly, all city games bar the Poppy one are on television this month.

Injury Update

Last night SSN reported that Micah Richards was a major doubt for Wednesday's game. However the official site this afternoon suggests that both he and Robinho are hopefully going to be fit for the derby game.

Mancini also seems hopeful about SWP's chances of making it into the squad for the game, although RSC is less likely to feature. Onuoha is another unavailable, in addition of course to Stephen Ireland.

As for Boyata, who made his first senior appearance in a City shirt at the Riverside on saturday, Mancini has stated he is very much in contention to play.

"There is a good chance that I will play Boyata again because I don't have a lot of defenders at the moment. He could have that chance because he played very well at Middlesbrough, but I will have to wait and see until after training on Tuesday."

So with the injury list growing, I would assume the team will line up like this.

----------------Given----------------

Richards---Boyata---Kompany---Garrido

---------De Jong------Barry----------

Petrov ------- Robbie -------- Bellamy

----------------Tevez-----------------

The three games Mancini has been in charge for, the front players have all had very free roles, so I would expect those front four to be quite fluid. De Jong and Barry as the two holding midfielder's and the makeshift back four. The full back positions are question marks, but I don't think Mancini will play Sylvinho against the pace of United.

Richards Doubt for Wednesday

Sky Sports News is reporting that Micah Richards is a doubt for Wednesday's game.

Whilst it is possible Onuoha will be fit in time, this leaves Vincent Kompany as the only recognized centre back in the squad. Maybe Mancini will give Boyata a baptism of fire with a home début against Manchester United in the league cup semi final?

On a more positive note, Wright-Phillips is hopeful to return to the squad in time.