Preview: City to keep quadruple hopes alive
Much has been spoken of Man City’s chances to record a historical quadruple by the end of the season and by the looks of it, Pellegrini’s men still stand a chance of being the first English team to achieve the feat.
The Citizens come into match fresh from a 3-0 thrashing of West Ham, in doing so City recorded a massive 9-0 win over the Hammers on aggregate which booked their place in the final of the Capital One Cup where they face league strugglers Sunderland.
The sky blues have been on a terrorising run lately and have won 16 of their last 18 matches. Their last five matches have all ended in victories for the Citizens who have scored 20 goals in the process.
However they will miss out on the services of top scorer Alvaro Negredo who injured his shoulder in the match against West Ham whereas playmaker David Silva will also be on the sidelines due to a hamstring injury.
The absence of the prolific duo might allow Portuguese international Marcos Lopes to showcase his talents. The youngster was aged just 17 years and eight days when he faced Watford in the third round of the FA Cup last season and the Brazilian born midfielder made full use of first team opportunity by rounding up an excellent display with a goal and in the process became City’s youngest goal scorer ever.
Lopes was given the chance to impress in the second leg of the Capital One Cup semi-final against West Ham and the youngster lived up to his billing by putting up a lively performance. And the City starlet is looking to feature more regularly for his side and is eying a starting berth in the match against Watford.
"Cup games represent a big opportunity for younger players at the club and I'm looking forward to being involved in more matches," he said.
"It's a different level playing for the senior team - a high-intensity 90 minutes, but it's good for me to learn with these players and play these games. I have to do my work and my job and hopefully I'll get more chances."
"I'm ready and will give 100 per cent because these are the games when you can make an impression and for players like myself and Emyr Huws who have both been in and around the senior team for the past few weeks, it's a great chance to improve as players and gain vital experience."
Watford on the other hand have been the shadow of the side which finished third in the Championship last season and rounded off the campaign with a league high 85 goals. 25 games into the season the Hornets are currently 15th in the table and have recorded just a single victory in their last five matches. And their misery is not to end soon with an away fixture against City on the cards, given Man city’s incredible goal scoring record at home Giuseppe Sannino and his men could be in for a long night.
Watford will be without both Lewis McGugan (thigh) and Iriney (groin) for the trip to Manchester, Fitz Hall and Alexander Merkel are both suspended whereas Arsenal loanee Hector Bellerin is cup tied and will not be available for the match.
Marco Cassetti is however set to make his return after recovering from a knee injury he suffered at the beginning of the month and Mathias Ranegie is set for his Watford debut.
Apart from Alvaro Negredo and David Silva, City do not have any major injury concerns apart from French midfielder Samir Nasri. Defender Micah Richards is in contention for a place in the starting line-up whereas Montenegro international Stevan Jovetic will be looking for his first start since October.
Where to watch the match – live stream, start time, TV channels, live scores
Watch Manchester City vs Watford live on Saturday, January 25, 2014:
Fans in China can catch the action live on SiTV China.
For complete details of match listings and live scores, visit the Manchester City vs Watford match page.
