An upbeat Manchester City will be welcoming Middlesbrough to the Etihad Stadium as they look to kick-start another unbeaten run in the league after a 4-0 win against West Bromwich Albion. City started the season with a bang, winning 10 consecutive matches before enduring a run of 6 winless games. But all that seems to be in the distant past as the win versus the Baggies was followed by their best European performance which concluded in a 3-1 victory over none other than Barcelona.
On the other hand, Middlesbrough are slowly settling into the rigours of the Premier League and are fresh off a 2-0 victory over Bournemouth. But this will be a major test for them and Karanka will be asking his players for a repeat of the 0-0 draw against Arsenal as he will expect a similar sort of performance again.
Let us take a brief look at the key battles in this game.
SERGIO AGUERO VS CALUM CHAMBERS & BEN GIBSON
The Argentine has emphatically emerged from his poor run of form and after a brace against the Baggies, he followed it up with an effective and dominant performance against Barcelona. City will be relieved things are looking up for El Kun as he is their most prolific goalscorer and Middlesbrough will be aware of that.
Aguero doesn’t need a whole lot of time or space to conjure a goal and Chambers and Gibson have to make sure that they stick tight to their man. Marking or containing Sergio Aguero is an unenviable job but the Arsenal loanee has to give his best shot as it is one of the ways to keep the Sky Blues quiet.
ADAMA TRAORE VS KOLAROV/CLICHY
It is a known fact that City are going to dominate possession and Boro will be camped in their own half for the majority of the match. But they have the express speed of Traore to fall back on when they get an opportunity to counter and as he showed against the Gunners, he can be a real thorn in their flesh.
Kolarov or Clichy will be lining up at left-back and will have to be wary of not getting caught out at the back. With City going on the offensive, they will attack in numbers which might give Traore the perfect opportunity to hit the nervy City backline.
RAHEEM STERLING VS GEORGE FRIEND
Sterling has been a revelation since the start of the season. He was written off by pundits after his magnified troubles of last season but it was always clear to the realists that he had been brought in with the bigger picture in mind. And Pep has had the desired effect on the English attacker.
Sterling has been a threat to all the full backs he has faced till now and Friend will be no different. With Raheem proving to be a prolific supply line it will be the stand-in captain’s task to give his best shot at nullifying his threat.
