Graeson Laitt takes a look at Coventry City ahead of this Saturday's Championship encounter at Layer Road (ko 3pm)

Colchester United face their penultimate game at Layer Road on Saturday afternoon when they entertain Coventry City. The Sky Blues have been dragged in to relegation trouble in recent weeks and will need a victory to ensure that they don't face the U's in League One next season.

City currently sit fourth from bottom, a point better off than United's last opponents Leicester City who occupy the last relegation place. However, there are still three other club's for whom safety is not yet assured and with games running out, victories will be essential in the coming weeks. Sheffield Wednesday and Leicester face each other soon but while Southampton and Blackpool both need at least one win to be safe.

City are now managed by former Wales International Chris Coleman who returned from a spell in Spain to take over at The Ricoh in February after Iain Dowie's dismissal. So far, his won a quarter of the dozen games he has been in charge for, drawn a third, and lost the rest.

The Sky Blues have won just once in the last seven games since beating Norwich at home on the 8th March. They were beaten at Bramall Lane by the odd goal in three before a goalless draw with the other Sheffield club four days later at home. A trip to Southampton also ended in a goalless draw and, with another draw against Wednesday - this time at Hillsborough - they've had their chances to escape from the relegation places.

Their one victory came at home against Plymouth Argyle when Michael Doyle scored twice, and former Brentford winger Jay Tabb got the third. There then followed that game at Hillsborough which Wednesday rescued through a 90th minutes equaliser from Richard Wood. Their last away trip saw them lose by the odd goal in three at Watford with Tommy Smith scoring the winner after Leon Best had cancelled out Nathan Ellington's early opener.

That score line was repeated at The Ricoh Arena last Saturday when Stoke came back from a goal behind to enhance their promotion ambitions. City had taken the lead through a controversial penalty scored by Elliott Ward before another spot-kick was awarded by referee Uriah Rennie which Ricardo Fuller scored from ten minutes after the break. The winner came from Liam Lawrence with eleven minutes remaining - taking advantage of Kasper Schmeichel's error.

Leading goal scorer for Coventry City this season has been Maltese International Michael Mifsud, who scored the winner for City against the U's earlier this season. He has now scored sixteen goals so far this season - including two at Old Trafford to knock Manchester United out of the League Cup - but he hasn't found the net in domestic games since 26th January. However, he certainly took his shooting boots with him to Malta's last International game against Liechtenstein when he hit a nineteen minute first half hat-trick, and finished with five in total in a 7-1 romp over the European minnows.

This will be the 27th meeting between the two sides with City leading the way with a dozen wins as opposed to United's seven. Indeed, United haven't beaten the Sky Blues in the League since October 1963 when goals from Mike Grice and Bobby Hunt gave the two points to United. However, Rowan Vine's hat-trick did give the U's a win over City in the FA Cup 4th Round replay in Feb 2004.

Graeson's Team
Assuming everyone's fit, I can think of no reason why Geraint Williams would, or should, change the starting eleven for the visit of Coventry City. Reading recent comments from the U's manager suggests that he is going to experiment a bit - but I feel that would be wrong and unfair to clubs around the relegation positions and equally, should not be done in the Stoke game next week. If you feel the need to experiment then the Scunthorpe game is the one to do that in.

So my line up for Saturday will be Gerken in goal and a back four of Ifil, Coyne, Heath and White. The midfield will see Duguid and Elito on the flanks with Jackson and Hammond in the middle looking to supply Kevin Lisbie and Scott Vernon up front.

Graeson's Prediction
The U's need just two more wins to rank nine hundred victories at Layer Road - and they'll be one off that mark come five o'clock tomorrow. If the back four can cope with Mifsud's pace then the U's just know they will score at least one.

Who would bet against the U's biggest win of the season tomorrow with a 4-1 home romp thanks to a Lisbie brace, a first goal from Dean Hammond and late goal to cap it all from substitute Anthony Wordsworth?

Photo: Action Images

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