City will challenge for Premier League title

Manchester City summer signings and recent good form at the start of the English Premier League season will inspire the Eastland’s faithful hope that they can actually challenge for league title this season. Unlike in previous seasons, City have made a blistering start to the 2011-2012 season, winning all four games in the Premier League. They started from where they stopped last season as city finished in top four to represent England in this season’s lucrative champion’s league. Them and cross road neighbors Manchester United are the only teams to win all their four matches. Coach Roberto Mancini and City fans are enjoying good performance from their players, specially the new signings at the moment. Every player is capable of scoring a goal at any time; they no longer rely on Carlos Tevez for goals. The arrival of Sergio Aguero from Atletico Madrid and Samir Nasri from Arsenal has boosted City’s attack. Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko has acclimatized to English playing style, you can see that in the way he been scoring goals for City lately. His four-goal haul against Tottenham Hotspurs was a clear indication of his true goal scoring ability. Additionally, the club is still has Tevez and Mario Ballotelli as reinforcements in attack. Both Nasri and Aguero have added real quality to the City squad. Aguero known for his mesmerizing shooting ability has inspired city to a number of victories this season while Nasri’s pace, dribbling skills and imagination have not gone unnoticed. Nasri, on his City debut, was behind the 5-0 demolition of Tottenham at White Hart Lane and has been instrumental in all their victories. He is linking up well with Yaya Toure and Silva in the midfield, which is very important for City. With four top class strikers in Aguero, Tevez, Dzeko and balottelli, and supported by world class mid fielders in Yaya, Silva and Nasri, Manchester City possess the strongest attack in the Premier League. This is manifested by their 15-goal tally in four games played so far. Only the champions United have scored more (18 goals). Manchester United profited Arsenal’s hopelessness early on the season after the departure of Cesc Fabregas and Nasri to Barcelona and City respectively with an 8-2 drubbing. This was followed by 5-0 demolition of a disorganized Bolton defence that took United goals tal to 18 from 4 games this season. Like City, United has improved in all departments this season and United’s attack has been inspired by the summer arrival of Ashley Young from Aston Villa. Young has pulled the strings for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side. He was the match winner against West Bromwich and set up the first goal to help United register a 2-1 win against the middle table team. However, Manchester United need to improve the defensively and the departure of experienced goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar has created a void between sticks. Though United have not yet been well tested at the back, there is a clear indication that they can still leak goals when subjected to attacking pressure, as we are likely to see in Sunday’s top of the table clash at Old Trafford against Chelsea. City tycoons have changed the club from being a middle table team to a trophy hunting team. City won the FA Cup last season and finished third in the league, the highest position in 34 years and their first trophy in 37 years. Mancini’s side, along with United and Real Madrid are the teams most likely to challenge champiosn Barcelona for this season’s Champion’s League title. josephmunich06@yahoo.co.uk