Morning all,

City have a few out for the match tomorrow, Kolo and Yaya Toure, Samir Nasri and Sergio Aguero are banned, injured or away with the ACON’s.Β Of course they leave behind many more very good players but I’d rather we were playing against them without those I have listed.

They’ll be up for the game though, they need to string a long run of victories together if they want to catch Utd and I hope they do after this weekend. Out of the two, I want City to win the PL. For obvious reasons of course. My preference is for all of the teams above us to go on a dreadful run and we sneak a few places up the table…

Talking of City, Samir Nasri has dedicated his Premier League medal to his old boss:

If I’m here today it’s because of him. I’ll never forget what he did for me.Β I owe him a lot. He gave me confidence not just as a player but as a man as well.Β That is why I really respect him and really like him because he cared about the men, not just about the players.

For some managers they want you to be on the pitch and that is it.Β For him he wants to talk to you, to know a little more about you to give you the confidence, it was like a second love for me.

I played fantastic football for three years and I learned how to play at a high level with a lot of Champions League and I was always in the race for the title.Β And I played with great players, a great manager and it was a great experience.

Rumours were that Nasri could be on his way out from City, is he itching for a return, would we want him back if he was?
I’m not so sure….

Staying with Arsene Wenger, hasn’t he had a fine hair-cut! It’s amazing how much brighter he looks without his curling grey locks, add the smile to his face yesterday during his press conference and he looked a lot better than he has done of late. He did hint that Theo Walcott could sign a new contract soon, maybe that is the weight which has been laying so heavy on his shoulders of late?

Discussions progress smoothly but slowly. We are on a good road but in this situation, as long as nothing is signed, you are cautious.

But I am optimistic we will get to a happy conclusion. I was optimistic last week, but I am a bit more optimistic this week.

Until he’s signed, like Wenger, I’m going to remain cautious. RvP led us to believe his contract renewal was all going to be relaxed and easy to resolve over a nice cup of coffee.

Well that coffee must have been bitter because the outcome sure was!

Talking of Robin, Wenger says that he knew selling the Dutchman to Manchester United would give them the advantage over City in the race to win the Premier League.

Wonder if he thought he could have given us that edge had we kept him, and added one or two more than he did in the summer?

Bitter, I’m off to make a coffee….

Have a good day all…..