Manchester City will aim to banish their demons against Sunderland when they travel to the Stadium of Light on Wednesday.
The reigning Premier League champions have lost on their last four top-flight visits to Wearside, and the Black Cats have become something of a bogey team for Manuel Pellegrini's men.
Both sides are buoyed from positive results at the weekend as Manuel Pellegrini’s men won 3-0 at Southampton, while Sunderland held league leaders Chelsea to a goalless draw on Saturday Night Football.
Ahead of their match on Wednesday night, Gus Poyet has stoked the fires by claiming that Chelsea are better than Manchester City in every aspect.
Gus Poyet guided his side through November without defeat, going four unbeaten after losing to Arsenal and being thumped 8-0 by Southampton, and they have moved up to 13th in the Premier League table.
Team News
City are without captain Vincent Kompany, who is set for a scan on a hamstring injury. With Eliaquim Mangala suspended and Matija Nastasic also injured, Pellegrini will have to choose from Dedryck Boyata or possibly Bacary Sagna to play alongside Martin Demichelis in defence.
Manuel Pellegrini says Manchester City are waiting on the results of Vincent Kompany's scan results before knowing how long their inspirational captain wil
Playmaker David Silva, striker Edin Dzeko and left-back Aleksandar Kolarov are City's other absentees for Wednesday night's clash.
Sunderland boss Gus Poyet could be tempted to rotate his starting line-up for the visit of City. The Uruguayan has no new injury concerns but is keen for his side to stay fresh in the wake of the impressive but gruelling goalless draw against Chelsea.
It could mean starts for on-loan defender Sebastian Coates and midfielder Ricky Alvarez, but Emanuele Giaccherini (ankle), Billy Jones (hamstring) and Patrick van Aanholt (shoulder) are still out.
Jamie Carragher believes Manchester City should do all they can to keep Frank Lampard.
Opta Facts
Sunderland have lost just one of the last six Barclays Premier League games against Manchester City (W3 D2 L1).
Frank Lampard (45) is the only midfielder to score more Premier League goals than Yaya Toure (44) in the period since the latter joined Man City in August 2010.
Sunderland held Chelsea at the Stadium of Light on Saturday
Toure has scored in back-to-back Premier League appearances for Man City for the first time since March. He’s never scored in three consecutive PL apps.
Lee Cattermole has been booked in six of his last 10 Premier League appearances for Sunderland.
The Black Cats have been involved in more 0-0 draws than any other Premier League side this season (4), two of which have come in their last two games.
Merson’s Predictions
Kompany: Ruled out after limping off at Southampton
“People will say Sunderland have to win their games at home, but they just have to make sure they can nick points against the big boys – they did that last time out. Defensively that was as good as it gets. They’ll have to do it again against Man City but I think they’ll have too much for them – John O’Shea and Wes Brown liked playing against Diego Costa, but Sergio Aguero is miles too sharp and lively for them.”
KALFOUS PREDICTS: 0-2
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