After the mad goings on at Craven Cottage on Tuesday, Manchester City take on Sunderland at the Etihad Stadium, looking to keep the momentum going after recording back-to-back victories in the Premier League. 5-1 up at Fulham in midweek should have seen City comfortably taking the three points, but the Blues allowed the Cottagers to come back make it 5-4 and a very nervy finish.
They take on a Sunderland side that came close to beating Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday and, given City’s previous records against the Black Cats, not many of the Faithfull will be looking at this match and thinking it will be a comfortable win.
As always, our team are here to give us their insights (not that it did any good on Tuesday) and predictions on how the match will go. Here’s what we think this week:
City have been a bit dodgy of late but tend to keep winning at home. Sunderland have been amazing this season but Pep Guardiola’s men should be too much for them.
City host one of the surprise teams of the Premier League. Sunderland are still challenging for European football as Christmas approaches. City can’t drop points at home, and I don’t think they will.
Decent leads against Leeds and Fulham should have been enough but somehow, City’s defence looks awful. Are we sure we didn’t sign Van Dijk and no one told us? Sunderland will be tough and I’m honestly not expecting much. I think this will close.
No one thought this match would come with nine goals and City would run out 5-4 winners, but that’s what happened. Will went for a very conservative 2-0 win, Thomas went for 3-1, and Saul went crazy predicting a draw. Meanwhile, at 4-1, Pete thought he’d finally got a perfect score, but no, City will always put a dampener on that sort of hope. In the end, it’s the hope that kills you.