Bernado Corradi will definately miss out for the home side as he is banned because he was sent off against Chelsea for a second bookable offence. New signing Hatem Trabelsi has recieved his work permit and arrived at the club but due to lack of fitness he probably won't take part. However, David James' replacement Andreas Isaksson and former "Bolton midfielder" Dietmar Hamann will be handed their debuts if fit.
There's some good news and some bad news on the subject of which City strikers we will be up against tommorow. Andy Cole is injured which is great because since our promotion he has managed to score against us for every club he has been at (Blackburn, Fulham and City) and would have been odds on to score against us yet again. The bad news? With Cole's abscence and Corradi's suspension we are almost certain to see Paul Dickov take some part in the match. He probably won't start ahead of Vassell and Samaras but you can bet your last quid he will be sent on to annoy us as much as possible as he has done in the past whether it be for Blackburn or Leicester!
As for ourselves I would not be suprised to see an unchanged line-up from the team that thrashed Blackburn on Saturday. David James will play against his former club and usually when a big player returns to their former club they either have a blinder or a stinker so let's hope for the latter! Koroman has recieved clearance to play but I would expect to see him start on the benhc as well as Kanu and then come on to influence the game later. Otherwise, expect the same starting eleven that played against Blackburn to start against City.
And if they play like they did on Saturday then City are going to be in for a tough time and we could be looking at our second win in a row! You just wonder though which Harry Redknapp side will show up? Will we see the old away side of previous Premiership seasons where we have looked off the pace and not up to the job or will we see the away side of the latter stages of last season that managed comprehensive away wins against West Ham and Fulham as well as that clincher against Wigan. City will be a tough test under Pearce though and if you offered me a draw now, I would probably take it.
Mind you, I would happily take another injury time rocket from Pedro Mendes to win this game!
Premiership Past: Manchester City vs Pompey
03/04: Manchester City 1 Pompey 1
Our first ever Premiership away game and the first official vistors to the then new City Of Manchester Stadium. It was all going so well too as Yakubu scored to put us a goal ahead but just when we thought we would take all three points David Sommeil scores a header in injury time to snatch a point for City and spare Kevin Keegan from embarassment.
04/05: Manchester City 2 Pompey 0
Sylvain Distin and Robbie Fowler scored early on in a game nobody really cared about. In fact, many Pompey fans were more interested in how Southampton would bounce back after their humiliation at the hands of Pompey the week before. They beat Norwich 4-3 but we all know what happened in the end. Ironically, this result saw us officially safe from relegation despite defeat.
05/06: Manchester City 2 Pompey 1
Alain Perrin had a gameplan for this match as he played a very negative 4-5-1. 0-0 after the break, Pompey would take the lead via a set-piece as Laurent Robert's free kick was headed in by John Viafara. Playing 5 at the back surely we would be able to hold on for the win? Wrong! Cue another Sander Westerveld blunder to gift Claudio Reyna an equaliser and then four minutes later Andy Cole would inevitably score the winner as Pompey fell apart, sending the travelling fans home angry.