Man City v Middlesbrough match preview

Gareth Southgate's troubled Middlesbrough visit Eastlands Saturday afternoon in a desperate hunt for goals. Boro is in the midst of a twelve match win-less streak that has seen the superb young managers side fall into the relegation zone and threatened his own position with the club. Of course the sky isn't perfect for Mark Hughes as despite his ownerships heavy investment, the Citizens languish mid table after being felled by Stoke City and many are calling for the former Wales manager job.

For City supporters the on-again, off-again performance of these campaign has you waiting for a quality performance against 'Boro following the dreadful impression of a professional team last week. Yet the story this week and there always is a story with City, as been the arrest of Micah Richards on assault charges. With that issue put on the back burner for the time being, Shaun Wright-Phillips has been allowed greater time to appeal the FA's violent conduct charge and will feature in the match. Presumably he feels confident of winning the charge as he would have been best served to start his match ban immediately and be available for West Ham match on March 1. Assuming he does not win the case, he will have delayed his suspension and ruled himself out of the West Ham match, which is considerably more difficult than 'Boro.

For City the match will make the debut of Shay Given who came over Newcastle and will be another piece to solving the defensive puzzle that has troubled Mark Hughes' side. City can expect a highly defensive strategy by visiting Middlesbrough as they look to pounce on the counter-attack and replicate their early season 2-0 victory over the Citizens.