Europa League
2012-03-15 - Manchester City vs Sporting Lisbon
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: European Europa League, Last 16 Second Leg
Thursday 15 March 2012 - Kick Off 8:05pm
Sporting Lisbon lead 1-0 from the First Leg
This game is live on TV
Manchester City
There was always going to be a period of the season where Manchester City, regardless of all the former winners in the squad, were going to get a little nervous and struggle to find results. After back to back defeats on their travels, the team should feel much better that they are coming home and the sanctuary that the Etihad Stadium provides.
City have been very strong at home all season, winning all 14 League games they have played there, but they are only 2-1-1 in Europe, while both Manchester United and Liverpool have won Cup games at this stadium. Goals have not been a problem for the side at home, as it seems to be away from home, and Roberto Mancini should be more than comfortable in thinking his side can overturn the deficit from the first leg.
The loss in Portugal was followed three days later with another in Swansea meaning City have lost their lead in the Premier League for the first time since the beginning of October. Before these back to back defeats, City had won 6 in a row in all competitions, while they have won 5 in a row at home, scoring 15 goals and conceding just 2 in that run. The team beat Porto 4-0 here in the last Round so confidence should be high that they can do something similar to Sporting Lisbon.
Gareth Barry was upset at being substituted at the weekend and will not be in the squad this week, although that is down to an injury. Vincent Kompany and Pablo Zabaleta are out, while Joleon Lescott is doubtful. Carlos Tevez looks set to return to the squad next week as he is ineligible for this competition.
Sporting Lisbon
You could have been forgiven for thinking that Sporting Lisbon had stamped their passport to go to Bucharest for the Europa League Final with the way that they celebrated their win over Manchester City last week, and that could be their downfall this week as it obviously upset their more illustrious hosts.
The team continued their resurgence under their new manager as they won 5-0 at the weekend, but the bottom line is that they are still 12 points behind leaders Porto and 11 points behind Benfica and Braga for the Champions League places. Sporting are 4-3-4 away from home in the League, and they are 1-2-2 away from home in Europe.
The 5-0 win at the weekend means Sporting have won 5 of their last 6 games in all competitions while they have scored 9 goals and only conceded 1 in those games. However, the team have only won 1 of their last 11 away games in all competitions and can struggle for goals away from home.
It is expected that the same team that took the field last week will be in action for Sporting this week.
Head to Head
This will be the first meeting between the teams in Manchester.
Prediction
It is going to be very interesting to see how Manchester City bounce back from their last two setbacks that has seen them lose control of the Premier League title. However, they have been given the benefit of having a free weekend and that will give Roberto Mancini the freedom to play the strongest team he has to his disposal.
The injuries to key defenders will be a worry for Mancini, but there is enough attacking power in the side to think they can overcome that and also overcome the 1-0 deficit from the trip to Portugal last week.
Sporting Lisbon are likely going to try and contain City at the beginning of the match and try and make the home side nervous, but they will be aware of what happened to their domestic rivals Porto here. The problem for them could be if City score early and then trying to change the momentum that the home side seems to get from playing at the Etihad Stadium.
This will not be an easy match for City, but I think they have too much quality for this Sporting team- I also believe that they are upset with the celebrations of the Portuguese team and so I expect them to be fully focused and attack from the start.
City have been comfortable winners in their last 4 home games, winning 3 of those by 3 or more goals. With Mancini sure to be a little concerned with his defensive problems, I don't think City are going to let up if they do take the lead in fear that they will concede and fall out of the competition.
With that in mind, I am going to take a bit of a risk and pick City to win while covering a couple of goals on the English Handicap.
The Pick :
Manchester City 3-0 Sporting Lisbon
