Preview: Can Blackburn cause a massive upset?
Manchester City is not quite the force it is at home away from it despite their win in early December against the European Champions at the Allianz Arena. In the Premier League, they managed five away wins in eleven attempts, losing four times. At Ewood Park, therefore, when Scott Dann equalized, not too many regular City viewers were shocked. That draw incidentally is the only poor result for City in a stretch of eight games in all competitions.
Prior to those eight matches, City lost Sergio Aguero to injury against Arsenal in a scintillating 6-3 win. Aguero has returned and is obviously raring to go, though whether he will feature in this match is yet to be confirmed. Manuel Pellegrini is delighted to have his star striker back according to BBC:
“He is a very important player for us.
“It doesn't matter if we are scoring a lot of goals, Sergio will always be a very important player and we are happy he is coming back.”
The manager was greeted by negative reactions from all quarters following his side’s highly controversial 0-2 win over Newcastle. The team from Tyneside had a goal disallowed as a player who was not interfering with play was offside. The decision could have gone either way but in most scenarios would have favored the team which had scored. In this case, it had not.
City will be without the injured quartet of Yaya Toure, Samir Nasri, Jack Rodwell and Stevan Jovetic. Edin Dzeko is also doubtful. Blackburn’s Gary Bowyer meanwhile has almost a full strength squad to select from with Leon Best the only doubt. They beat Doncaster 1-0 in their previous match in the English Championship and currently sit eighth.
Their manager’s attitude perfectly summed up their approach to the game as noted by BBC:
“We've got everything to gain. No one outside of our dressing room gives us a prayer and they are situations we quite like.
We learn more about our players and they're really going to be tested on Wednesday. The players are excited about the opportunity to play against them again."
Can Blackburn really pull off a miraculous upset 130 years after their first FA Cup win? Or will City take them apart at the Etihad?
Where to watch the match: Live Streams, Live Scores, Start Times, TV Channels:
Watch Manchester City vs. Blackburn Rovers live on Wednesday, January 15, 2014:
In Canada at 15:10 ET on Sportsnet World
In the UK at 20:10 BST on ITV 1, ITV HD, BBC Radio 5 Live, UTV
In the USA at 15:10 ET on SiriusXM FC, Fox Soccer 2Go, Fox Sports 2 USA, Fox Deportes
In Italy, viewers can tune into Fox Sports HD to watch the match.
For the complete TV listings and live scores upon kick-off, visit the Manchester City-Blackburn Rovers match page.
