Two leaders of the chasing pack will jostle for position at Eastlands.
Sunday afternoon is a big game in the Premier League, but, as with any at this stage of the season, it is not definitive. Manchester City have already proved that they have the organisation and quality to challenge for the league title but we still have the ability to beat anyone on our day so the result will not eliminate anyone from the reckoning.
Our last big game took on a familiar pattern but there is no escaping the fact that we had glaring chances to take the lead at Chelsea. Very small margins decide encounters between the top sides and, for a number of reasons, we have been just the wrong side of that margin for the last five years. This has left a young squad with very empty trophy cabinets and an absence of that illusive 'winning mentality'. There is still hope though.
Cesc Fabregas returned against Shakhtar on Tuesday and put in an understandably rusty display but hopefully he will be back to his influential best on Sunday. Our captain can provide the difference to our team because he is the one player who has experience of winning trophies. To have both European Championship and World Cup winners medals in his pocket at the age of 23 is remarkable but will also make his desire to continue to win trophies at club level stronger. This is why he wanted to leave for Barcelona but we are not too far off being able to win trophies ourselves, a line that Wenger must have pushed to the limit in his talks with Fabregas in the summer.
It is probably no coincidence that the last piece of silverware that we picked up came courtesy of a unique occurrence in the Wenger era, a game plan designed to contain the opposition that was executed well for the entire 120 minutes at the Millennium Stadium. For all of the great one's qualities, his refusal to alter our style has cost us in a number of games and it could well cost us again on Sunday unless at least a polite nod is made towards combating City's robust and organised style.
Alexandre Song has developed a growing fondness for abandoning his defensive role to try his hand at the more glamorous side of the game but he became such a success in our midfield because he was disciplined enough to hold his position. Pushing forward during a match like the 5-1 win over Shakhtar is fine but we will be punished on the counter attack on Sunday if we are outnumbered in midfield, even if it is only for a couple of seconds before one of his midfield colleagues drops in to cover. Just having the one deep lying midfielder guarantees some kind of defence before the centre backs are completely exposed no matter how committed the rest of the team may be to attack.
CIty have developed a penchant for fielding three defensively minded midfielders in the centre of the pitch, providing the antithesis to Wenger's philosophy. We can only hope that, as they are the home team, they will attempt to be a bit more adventurous to give us room to play in but, if their 1-0 win over Chelsea is anything to go by, Mancini will try to close the game up and steal a goal. Our more fluent play almost paid dividends at Stamford Bridge but we still left with no points. If Song can play with a little more discipline we will probably find it a lot easier to contain a side lacking in ambition and hopefully the clinical finishing that reared its head on Tuesday can return to give us a very welcome result.