City v Forest preview

By Andy Leggott
March 29 2002

Kevin Keegan will be forced into at least one change for tomorrows game at home to Forest. Eyal Berkovic has failed to recover in time from the injury he picked up at Rotherham and will once more be missing from the City line up.

With Danny Tiatto missing through suspension, Shaun Wright-Phillips is expected to move into central midfield with Sun Jihai getting a first start in the right wing back role. The other option is for Wright-Phillips to stay on the right and Gerard Wiekens to start in midfield, however the latter selection left City disjointed at Stockport, so looks unlikely.

In defence changes are unlikely, with Dunne, Howey and Pearce starting, Pearce facing his old club for the last time.

Paulo Wanchopes injury has left the way clear for Goater, Huckerby and Macken to fight for 2 places. Keegan is likely to start with The Goat and Huckerby leaving Macken still waiting for his full home debut.

At the City ground, earlier in the season, City stuttered to a disappointing 1-1 draw. Shaun Goater equalised for City with the most bizarre goal of the season, Ward in the Forest goal putting it on the floor for the unaware Scimeca, allowing the Goat to nip in and score.

After the poor performances at Stockport and Rotherham, City will be looking to get the title bandwagon back on track. In the more comfortable surrondings of Maine Road, against a footballing side like Forest expect a City win. I predict 3-0 and only 4 more points needed to reach the happy clappy, overpriced league.