Marten de Roon’s stoppage-time header earned Middlesbrough a 1-1 draw at Manchester City to leave Pep Guardiola’s side in a vulnerable position at the Premier League summit.
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Asked if City had paid the price for their efforts against his former club Barcelona, Guardiola said: “Not really”.
City have battered their last two opponents – West Brom and Barcelona in the Champions League – but that doesn’t seem to have deterred fan’s hopes and expectations from the game. Last season they had the best defence in the Championship, but it has taken time for Middlesbrough’s defensive unit to settle down in the top flight, as Karanka introduced new personnel.
For Middlesbrough, goalkeeper Victor Valdes is the man to watch.
Former City man Negredo nearly grabbed a spectacular equaliser from the halfway line soon after half-time, and Aitor Karanka’s men certainly came out of the dressing rooms with a more positive attitude.
However, Belgium worldwide De Bruyne, who scored from a free-kick against Barca, is wary of complacency creeping in ahead of the Premier League leaders’ match at home to Boro. I respect every manager’s decision.
Guardiola’s men were held to a 1-1 draw by Middlesbrough in the Premier League on Saturday, November 5.
“It’s completely chalk and cheese from when I played there”, Dickov, who began his playing career with Arsenal, said about City’s rise over the past eight years.
A switch to a 3-4-3 formation has caused an upturn in West Ham’s results and defensive performances, but also a lack of potency in attack – it’s failed to score a few times in its last six Premier League fixtures. “So yes for me Aguero is the Premier League’s only world-class player” – Alan Shearer, Match of the Day pundit.
“It’s easy to throw comments about how they’ve done this”. Boro will rightly have some belief in their own ability having kept the Gunners at bay in London a fortnight ago and a similar sort of performance will be required with City enjoying 62% of possession at home so far this season.
Yet manager Mark Hughes believed his side blew it. “You can’t be negative, you have got to stay positive”.
“I don’t know exactly what went wrong for him there, but as a striker, you can probably think that it was a lack of confidence. It is fantastic for me to have him in the team, and also because he is scoring a lot”, said Conte on Friday.
“It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if they won it”.
If City are going to win the league, this is the sort of match that should be the bread and butter of the season and they’ve failed to win three in a row.
“He’s top-class and watching…”
Manchester City must maintain their intensity after Tuesday’s Champions League win over Barcelona, defender Nicolas Otamendi has warned.
“They are genuine Champions League contenders because of the players they have got and because Guardiola has got that pedigree”.
City can head into the global break on top of the Premier League if they beat newly promoted Middlesbrough at the Etihad on Saturday.
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Boro proved at the Emirates that they can make life hard for their opponents as they held out for 90 minutes against the Gunners.
