Emmanuel Adebayor is in line to start for Manchester City (13/10 – 90 minutes) against Arsenal at the weekend after his Europa League heroics, according to manager Roberto Mancini.
The Togo striker bagged a hat-trick at Eastlands to secure a 3-1 win over Lech Poznan in the Europa League. It was the first-ever European hat-trick by a City player and the first time he had found the back of the net so far this season.
Adebayor, who joined City from Arsenal (2/1 to win, draw 11/5 – 90 minutes) in the summer of 2009, is now set to start against his former club on Sunday, according to Mancini.
It was around 12 months ago that Adebayor angered Arsenal fans at Eastlands as City ran out 4-2 winners, back in Mark Hughes’ time as manager. He raked his boot down Robin van Persie’s face and also ran the full length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the Gunners fans after scoring.
The striker got a three match-suspension for the stamp on van Persie and was given a £25,000 fine and suspended two-match ban for after the Football Association cited “extremely provocative abuse” as a key factor in his controversial celebration.
After breaking his goal duck against the Polish side, Adebayor (5/1 – first goal scorer) now looks likely to be handed a starting spot when the teams meet again on Sunday.
Mancini said: “It is possible he could play against Arsenal.
“For a striker it is important to play well and his performance was excellent. But it is very important for them to score.
“Now he has a good chance to play against Arsenal.”
It looks a certainty that Carlos Tevez (Evens – to score anytime), City’s top scorer this season with seven goals, will come back into the team for the highly-anticipated Premier League clash with the Gunners, but Mancini is confident the duo can play together on Sunday.
“It is not a problem,” he added.
“They played together against Blackpool. It is normal for my teams to play with two strikers. That is what I usually like to do.”
Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas recently stoked the fires ahead of the game by claiming it is not possible for a team to just “buy the spirit” of champions with cold, hard cash (City 11/2 – Premier League outright, Arsenal 15/2).
The Spaniard knows City sit only two points behind Chelsea at the top of the Premier League but yet he has said it is impossible for a team to be put together “in one season or two” and it will take a long time to make the club serious title contenders.
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Manchester City’s (11/8 to beat Liverpool) Emmanuel Adebayor has hinted he could leave the Eastlands club in the January transfer window.