Manchester City’s bid to move within touching distance of the English Premier League summit has been given a shot in the arm with the news that influential midfielder Yaya Toure looks set to be fit for Saturday’s game at Norwich.
After leading the top flight for most of the campaign, City’s title challenge has faded thanks to draws against Stoke and Sunderland and losses to Arsenal and Swansea.
The Blues recovered with a 4-0 thrashing of West Brom on Wednesday, but had to do it without Toure, who hobbled off last Sunday at the Emirates Stadium with a knee injury.
The towering Ivory Coast midfielder has been a key player and could now feature at Carrow Road this weekend, where Roberto Mancini’s men will be looking for the win to put them within two points of leaders and bitter rivals Manchester United.
Mancini said: “He (Toure) has a problem with his knee but I do not think it is serious and he could be back at the weekend.”
Any thoughts that City will be in for an easy ride in Norfolk were further dispelled on Monday when the Canaries became the only club outside of Manchester to beat Tottenham at White Hart Lane in the league this term.
Many had predicted that Paul Lambert’s team would be heading for a swift return to the npower Championship following their promotion last summer, but they have defied their critics and now have 42 points.
Elliott Bennett’s superb winner sealed the points and Bennett has heaped praise on Lambert for the way he has masterminded Norwich’s unlikely rise.
“The Tottenham game was an unbelievable performance,” Bennett said. “If we can keep putting in performances like that then we will be a match for anyone.
“We have managed to get a top win against a top side in Tottenham and now hopefully we can give a good account ourselves against City
“His (Lambert’s) style of management is brilliant, his man management is too.
“He has made quite a few changes quite a few times but everyone understands it, they stick together and they know that we are going in the right direction.”
United were beaten 1-0 by Wigan at the DW Stadium on Wednesday but are clear favourites to return to winning ways at home to Aston Villa.
With Tottenham, Chelsea, Liverpool and Everton contesting the two FA Cup semi-finals, the rest of the top flight’s games focus on the battle for survival.
Blackburn will be hoping to climb out of the bottom three with a win at Swansea while Wigan face the daunting task of a Monday night trip to Arsenal. Bottom club Wolves visit Sunderland.
QPR are two points clear of the drop zone after the win over Swansea and now travel to The Hawthorns to face West Brom on Saturday full of confidence.
“The way we are playing at the minute I think we have got to go into every game believing they are winnable,” Rangers captain Joey Barton said.
“With 10 games to go everyone was saying we were doomed because of how hard our run-in was.
“But we’ve beaten Arsenal and Liverpool at home and now we’ve got a great result against a Swansea team who have been very good on the road this season.
“We have got to take massive confidence from that.”
