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Manchester
City manager Roberto Mancini has said his players need to be at their
sharpest when they host West Bromwich Albion tomorrow. After a shock
2-2 draw against Birmingham on Wednesday, City are nine behind their
neighbours and league leaders, Manchester United who have a game in
hand.

A day earlier, West
Brom had also played out a 2-2 draw against Wigan; a game coach Roberto
Di Matteo believes his side should have won. The Baggies sit
uncomfortably in 16th place, two points above the relegation places,
but will be boosted by the fact that striker, Osaze Odemwingie has
rediscovered his scoring touch. And if West Brom are to avoid the drop,
they will need goals from the Nigerian.

The former
Locomotiv Moscow player already has nine goals in his first ever
Premiership season and is excited about the trip to the City Of
Manchester Stadium. But first he has to get over a minor ankle
complaint.

“The goals give me
quite a bit of pride. That is what I am here for. They bought me to go
up front and get the goals. They are assisting me all the time. On
Tuesday I had an assist from Jerome and I just had to touch it in,”
Odemwingie said on his club website.

Odemwingie, who
arrived West Brom this season, has scored the same number as Fernando
Torres, Chelsea’s new £50 million buy and he is feeling good about his
performances. “At the moment some of the top strikers in the Premier
League have about eight or nine goals, the same as me. It gives me a
lot of confidence that I have the same number of goals as the top
strikers of good teams in England.”

Despite his
excitement, Odemwingie knows it won’t be an easy game. “It is always
interesting to play against a big team. I know it is a big stadium. “I
haven’t played there so I am hoping there will be no difficulties with
my ankle that prevent me. They are a big club.”

Mancini out for victory

Obviously disappointed with his team’s performance mid-week, Mancini is rallying his team for victory against West Brom.

“I don’t like it.
It is better that we wake up. Probably we don’t work well in training
and we sleep in the game and it is better we wake up quickly,” Mancini
said after the game. “We played well for the first 50 minutes and then
we forgot to play. I should change something. We must think about
improving – we should try to play football again, because in the last
few weeks we’ve forgotten this.

“We didn’t play
well. Sometimes it’s impossible, in January and February the team are
tired, but a team like us should be able to defend strongly and win
1-0.”

City beat West Brom
2-0 in their first meeting in November at the Hawthorns — with goals
from Mario Balotelli, who was subsequently sent off for violent conduct.

Though he wants all three points at stake, Odemwingie is willing to settle for a draw.

“It will be nice to
play against them and we’ll remember the last game against them that we
lost here, hoping now at least we can get a point from them.”

His team mates will
be hoping he rises up to the ‘occasion’ as he did in matches against
Arsenal and Manchester United this season.

“I enjoy big
occasions and big games – and this one fits into that bracket. It is
easy to prepare for a big game because the pressure is there. You have
to really prepare for it and go all out – it is a good pressure.”

The pressure will
be more pressure on title-chasing City, who will be hoping to stem a
bad run that has seen them fail to win their last three matches.

Other games

Manchester United travel to the Moulineaux hoping to maintain the
momentum and protect their unbeaten run, while Arsenal will be
concentrating on gaining revenge for the 1-0 loss suffered to Newcastle
earlier in the season.