The search for the stylish Manchester City of last season is set to continue when the English Premier League champions go away to Sunderland.
City proved the league’s great entertainers on their way to a first championship title of the Premier League era in 2011/12, but they have struggled to hit the same heights so far this term.
The personnel remain largely unchanged, but manager Roberto Mancini has not been able to coax the same standard of performance from his expensively assembled squad.
While there were glimpses of City’s free-flowing best in their 3-1 win away to Newcastle earlier this month, that form was nowhere to be seen at Etihad Stadium on Saturday, as the heavyweight hosts laboured to a 1-0 win over struggling Reading.
With the promoted visitors at the bottom of the table and leaking goals in recent weeks, a thrashing might have been expected, but instead City needed a 93rd-minute goal from workmanlike midfielder Gareth Barry, as strikers Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko failed to fire.
The next opportunity for City to prove they can still be a dynamic force comes on Wednesday at the Stadium of Light, where Martin O’Neill’s inconsistent Sunderland await.
Sunderland fans might have expected more from their team this season – they showed remarkable improvement when O’Neill replaced Steve Bruce as manager 12 months ago, but have failed to push on in the first half of 2012/13.
Scottish striker Steven Fletcher, prised from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a hefty fee of 12 million pounds in August, has proven a good acquisition, and netted the only goal in Sunderland’s 1-0 win away to Southampton on Saturday.
But he has received precious little in the way of support from team-mates, and Sunderland find themselves a lowly 15th on the table, just four points above the relegation zone.
City, irrespective of their sluggish performances, represent a major challenge for the home side on Boxing Day, but Sunderland can at least draw inspiration from the corresponding fixture last season, when Ji Dong-won’s injury-time goal saw them claim a dramatic upset win.
Fullback Aleksander Kolarov (leg) and midfielder Samir Nasri (groin) could return for City, but defender Micah Richards (knee) and holding player Jack Rodwell (hamstring) are out.
Sunderland have centre-back Wes Brown and Lee Cattermole on the sidelines, both due to knee injuries.
