West Brom vs Manchester City – Carling Cup 

After winning against Birmingham and therefore conquering their second win in the Premier League, West Brom are surely motivated ahead of the clash against the rich kids on the block, Manchester City.

It’s likely that Man City will spare some of their usual starters but that won’t be a problem for a squad that has enough quality to field almost two different starting elevens without losing quality. The home side won’t be as comfortable in that aspect as Man City is. If West Brom decides to rotate players then the quality of the starting eleven will clearly decrease and even if the manager decides to repeat the starters from the last league game fatigue will be a problem. Despite loosing early in the season to Chelsea (6-0) West Brom has shown improvements, only conceding one goal per match versus Tottenham, Liverpool and Birmingham whilst winning against Sunderland (1-0).

Man City must win something this season after another summer where they spent millions in acquisitions of new players. Seven points behind the leader (Chelsea) in the Premier League and knowing that Chelsea is a very strong contender they need to look for wins in other competitions. The Carling Cup provides Man City with a good chance to show their fans that they are capable to compete with the big boys and therefore I don’t believe they will relax in this game against West Brom.

Conclusion: I believe it will be a contested match but Man City is still the favorite to progress to the next round, and they will be looking to present themselves has candidates to win this edition of the Carling Cup. Coming from two consecutive away wins (Salzburg and Wigan) and against a team that was promoted to the top tier of English football I don’t see Man City loosing the chance of conquering this trophy. I believe in the victory of the team from Manchester and I will back Man City.