Manchester City will find at least three highly motivated players in their way when they try to improve upon their flagging away form in the Premier League at Aston Villa.
Only four clubs have won fewer home games this season than Villa but Richard Dunne, Stephen Ireland and Shay Given all have an extra incentive to improve that record on Sunday because they used to play for City.
The latter pair were even sold by current City manager Roberto Mancini, who understandably tried to downplay the reunion on Friday.
“This is Manchester City against Aston Villa, not Dunne, Ireland and Given,” Mancini said.
But Mancini needs his team to improve upon a run of only one win from six away matches that has helped defending champion Manchester United trim City’s lead at the top of the table to just two points.
City have lost at Everton, Chelsea and Sunderland.
“We knew it was impossible to score three goals in every away game,” Mancini said. “But we didn’t deserve to lose any of these games.
“At Sunderland we had 70 per cent possession and lost to an offside goal in injury time. At Everton we had 70 per cent of the ball and had all the shots. At Chelsea it was the same.”
Mancini can at least take comfort from the fact that this should be his last game without Yaya Toure and Kolo Toure, with the brothers set to return to the club after playing for Ivory Coast in Sunday’s African Cup of Nations final.
Villa could have striker Gabriel Agbonlahor, winger Marc Albrighton and defender James Collins back from injury, while Robbie Keane will make his final home appearance before returning to the Los Angeles Galaxy at the end of his loan spell.
United have a tough match as they try to keep pace, with traditional rival Liverpool heading to Old Trafford in one of Saturday’s eight matches – just two weeks after ousting United from the FA Cup.
Liverpool striker Luis Suarez could start a match for the first time since completing an eight-match ban for racially abusing United’s Patrice Evra in October. The Uruguay forward made his comeback as a substitute in Monday’s 0-0 draw against Tottenham.
United manager Alex Ferguson is not too worried about the prospect of the pair having to shake hands before the match.
“I have not even thought about that,” Ferguson said. “It has never been an issue. We are concentrating on the game.”
Tom Cleverley could return to United’s midfield after being out of action since October because of an ankle injury, while defender Chris Smalling could also play.
Also Saturday, it’s: Blackburn v Queen Park Rangers, Bolton v Wigan, Everton v Chelsea, Fulham v Stoke, Sunderland v Arsenal, Tottenham v Newcastle and Swansea v Norwich.
Sunday’s other game pitches Wolverhampton Wanderers into action against West Bromwich Albion.
League Championship leader West Ham aim to boost their campaign for promotion from the second tier at Peterborough on Saturday.