4th round v Cheltenham Town

League 2 against Premier League, especially in this round, sounds like a really good, old-fashioned F.A. Cup fixture.

v Cheltenham Town

The rather funky-sounding, Jonny-Rocks Stadium (formally Whadden Road)

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 11/11).

Fluid 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:

____________________Jesus____________________

 

 

_Torres________________________________Mahrez_

 

___________Foden_____________Doyle___________

__________________Fernandinho_________________

 

Mendy_________________________________Dionkou

 

________Harwood-Bellis______Garcia_____________

 

 

_____________________Steffen___________________

Subs: Carson, Cancelo, Mbete, Laporte, Rodri, Nmecha, Palmer, Silva, Delap.

5 of the 9 substitutions allowed in this competition at the moment…

I could be wrong here but Zack might be given this one.

A complete change to the back-4, I reckon and to give all in that [usual] department a well-deserved rest; with Benjamin, Taylor, Eric and a first-team-start for 19-year-old Alpha.

Fernandinho to provide the security & experience between the defence and more-advanced midfielders; with Ferran, Phil, Tommy & Riyad ‘bombing forward’ ahead of the veteran Brazilian.

Gabriel to be given the chance of regaining his shooting boots ‘up top’.

Again, I could be wrong about the keeper situation but I’m going for Scott to be the reserve stopper on this occasion, with Joao, Luke & fit-again Aymeric the back-up defenders. Rodders, Felix, Cole, Bernardo & Liam are the midfield / wing / attacking choices from ‘the 9’.

Notable absences:

-       Ederson – Not selected / rested.

-       Kyle Walker – Injured. Just a “knock” / bruised hip by the sounds of it so shouldn’t be out for long / might be available to some degree for Tuesday’s game.

-       Oleksandr Zinchenko – Not selected / rested.

-       Nathan Ake – Still working his way back from injury / not quite ready for a return.

-       Ruben Dias – Not selected / rested.

-       John Stones – Not selected / rested.

-       Kevin De Bruyne – Hamstring injury and will be out for 4 to 6 weeks. Obvious statement alert: That’s a BIG blow…

-       Ilkay Gundogan – Not selected / rested.

-       Raheem Sterling – Not selected / rested.

-       Sergio Aguero – Having had to isolate due to being in contact with someone who had tested positive for Covid-19, the Argentine striker now has the virus himself (I THOUGHT there was something wrong when he didn’t make the bench for the Villa game after, by my reckoning, his ‘contact isolation’ period was over). This time, his 10-day isolation clock started ticking on 21^st January but even then, we’ll have to see how severe his symptoms are / how well he recovers. I’m sure we all wish him well with a virus that can even strike down some of the fittest.

Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?

Yes.

Result? Our hosts haven’t recorded a win, oustide of the F.A. Cup, since the 5^th of December but, to their credit; they have drawn their last 4-league games and, so, clearly have some resilience about them.

If this was a packed home stadium, I could see a little more ‘banana skin’ about this clash but I just can’t see anything other than a City win.

Should be a good F.A. Cup game though and with the many changes of personnel for us; they might sneak a goal.

In the end though, and as I say, I think we’ll progress…

Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result…

Prediction: N/A

Result: N/A

Expected weather conditions during the game: Cold but dry at least [after large parts of the country have been hit with heavy, prolonged periods of rain]. 1C moving toward 0C is likely to see some of the players choosing to wear gloves; while hot drinks will be the ‘order of the day’ for those working on the sides, I’m sure. The pitch doesn’t have undersoil heating so there might be some parts of the pitch hardening up as the game progresses (5:30pm KO GMT) but I can’t imagine the weather conditions causing too many issues.