Manchester City vs. Swansea: Date, Time, Live Stream, TV Info and Preview
Manchester City need to get back to winning ways—and fast—if they are to keep pace with Chelsea in the Premier League.
The Sky Blues currently sit eight points behind the Stamford Bridge outfit in third and have the difficult visit of fifth-placed Swansea to contend with at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
Garry Monk's men picked up an impressive win over Arsenal last time out and will no doubt have ambitions of downing out-of form City at the weekend.
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Read on for a full preview of what should be a terrific clash on Saturday, as well as all the details of where to catch the action.
Date: Saturday, Nov. 22
Time: 3 p.m. GMT/10 a.m. ET
TV Info: NBCSN
Live Stream: NBC Sports Live Extra
Preview
Though City have won four of their last six Premier League matches, their form before the international break was largely dire as they picked up just one victory in six in all competitions.
Their most recent English top-flight outing was a 2-2 away draw with Queens Park Rangers which followed embarrassing home losses to CSKA Moscow and Newcastle in the Champions League and League Cup respectively.
In between the CSKA and Magpies losses came a 1-0 home defeat of local rivals Manchester United, but even that was somewhat underwhelming, per The Independent's Sam Wallace:
City have been a far cry from their title-winning form of last season with the consistent likes of Yaya Toure and Pablo Zabaleta often failing to hit the heights this term.
However, their quality is undeniable and they have an opportunity this weekend—after the international break—to regroup and attempt to chase down the table-topping Blues.
Indeed, manager Manuel Pelligrini insists it is too early to write his side off in the title race, per Sky Sports:
"Now is not the moment to analyse what has happened in the season. There are a lot of games to play in the Premier League and Champions League. We have 27 more games to play and there are a lot of points (to be contested), so we will see at the end who will be the best team this year.
"
One City player who has certainly not been under-performing so far this term is Sergio Aguero; the Argentine striker has bagged 12 goals in 11 league appearances, per WhoScored.com.
He is taking much of the burden in the goalscoring department, having netted eight of City's last 10 in the league, and others need to get in on the action.
Equally, City's defence needs to tighten up for the visit of Swansea whose attractive, free-flowing style could open up a Sky Blues back line that allowed QPR plenty of chances last time out, per Squawka:
Swansea will rightly feel—especially after beating the Gunners—that they can expose City's weaknesses and take something back with them to south Wales.
They were convincingly beaten at Eastlands last season, but they have been in impressive form and are well worth their lofty league position.
Gylfi Sigurdsson has been the star man for the Swans so far this term, scoring twice and assisting seven, per WhoScored, and Fernando or Fernandinho will be essential in keeping the Icelandic international quiet.
Given any space, Sigurdsson will take advantage and, along with Wilfried Bony, could cause City's defence some real problems.
A win for Swansea would move them to 21 points, the same as City, and could potentially see them up into the Champions League spots.
They have been mightily impressive thus far and certainly have the ability to beat City if the hosts do not up their level from recent performances.
However, with the home advantage and the immense quality of the City squad, the Sky Blues must be seen as favourites for all three points, but it will not come easy.
