Should Manuel Pellegrini Go For Youth In Manchester City's Lineup For The Final Game Of The Season?

Manuel Pellegrini remains intent on signing off the season with a win

Manchester City will finish their 2014/15 Barclays Premier League campaign, which has seen them relinquish their title to Chelsea, with a home game against Southampton on Sunday.

The Sky Blues have secured second place ahead of Arsenal and Manchester United in the league standings, by winning their last five league fixtures on the trot.

They were ran close in a couple of games by Tottenham Hotspur and Swansea City - both away from home - but a determined Manuel Pellegrini's side made sure that they worked hard out of possession and were clinical in attack, to secure three points on both those occasions.

City, otherwise, registered comfortable victories over West Ham United and Queens Park Rangers (QPR) at the Etihad Stadium, where they also overcame an assertive Aston Villa side that was close to holding the hosts for a point, at least.

It has been an important turnaround for the Cityzens, who, at one stage in April, looked likely to not even qualify for next season's UEFA Champions League.

Having secured the runner-up spot, as well as automatic qualification for the group stages of the Champions League next season, should Pellegrini experiment, and inject a few youth players in his starting lineup for Sunday's clash against Ronald Koeman's Saints?

Read on...

City's season was virtually over after they suffered defeats to Barcelona in the Champions League and Liverpool in the Premier League, in back-to-back games during the late February and early March period.

The atmosphere inside the Etihad, consequently, hasn't been at its raucous best for a good three months now and the City faithful are already looking for a fresh start next season.

The City supporters, however, have taken great delight in their club finishing above Manchester United for the second consecutive season, with Louis van Gaal's men losing 75% of their games (4) since inflicting a 2-4 derby defeat on City in April.

City fans witnessed their side pummel Southampton by 3-0 in the reverse fixture

The Etihad outfit has also played a coruscating brand of football, which has been missing for much of this season, lately, going onto score 16 goals during their current 5-game winning run, compared to just 9 in the previous 6 league fixtures.

One of the factors Pellegrini needs to consider if he is keen on experimenting with his starting lineup is that City will be playing at home against Southampton, a game for which the tickets have been sold out, and it, therefore, almost becomes an obligation to give the club's fanatics a good send off.

The Chilean, in his final pre-match press conference of the season yesterday, said that "Second is finished but the season isn't. We must try to win for our fans, to play well and give a good farewell to the season", indicating his single-mindedness in wanting to finish the season on a winning note.

PELLEGRINI: Second is finished but the season isn’t. We must try to win for our fans, to play well and to give a good farewell to the season

— Manchester City FC (@MCFC) May 22, 2015

That statement of his makes sense too, because City, unlike Jose Mourinho's side, haven't had a great season, and it can only be a good thing to finish the season with as many points to your name as possible.

The Chilean also has to be cautious in the way he bloods in youth to his squad, which has been one of his virtues as a City manager, because ideally, he doesn't want the youngsters to feature in a game and lose confidence on themselves because of a poor performance or something.

In addition, the starlets seem a little light-weight compared to the likes of a Jordan Ibe or Ruben Loftus-Cheek, players who have graced the Premier League this season for Liverpool and Chelsea, respectively.

The caliber of the opposition also needs to be taken into account, and from that point of view, City will need to play their full-strength side in order to overcome Sunday's visitors.

On the flip side of the coin, however, there can be no better stage for Pellegrini than Sunday, when he could inject a couple of youth players to his side's starting lineup, and thereby squash any lingering doubts over his supposed lack of faith in City's academy and EDS players.

Players like Kelechi Iheanacho and Jose Angel Pozo, who has already appeared for City in three league fixtures this season, could be given a chance to feature this Sunday, when there is absolutely nothing to lose or gain, at least from the home side's perspective.

It will be an important step, as Pellegrini often puts it during his interviews, in the Chilean's reign as City manager, who will need to have a few youth options up his sleeve ahead of the next season, when he will once again be under pressure to deliver silverware.

But going by his thoughts in the presser yesterday, Pellegrini sounds to be in no mood whatsoever to take a gamble, and put himself under pressure if something goes wrong.

Final Thought

It is important for City and Pellegrini to secure three points on Sunday, and ensure that they finish the season on a very good note.

Therefore, it would be good for City and their supporters if the former Malaga manager sticks with the lineup that has delivered results over the last month, and makes sure of the victory first.

This talk of experimentation can wait, at least until three points against Southampton are assured.

Barclays Premier League Preview: Swansea City vs Manchester City

Venue: Liberty Stadium, Swansea, Wales
Kickoff: 13:30 BST; 18:00 IST

Gary Monk, at just 36, is proving to be a tactical genius

Manchester City travel to the Liberty Stadium, to take on Swansea City in the penultimate Gameweek of the 2014/15 Barclays Premier League season.

It really is a significant weekend for Manuel Pellegrini's men, who could seal automatic qualification into next season's UEFA Champions League if they win against Swansea on Sunday.

The hosts, though, are in a fine fettle of their own and won't be easy to beat at all. They ran City ragged when the sides met at the Etihad Stadium last November, and deserved a better result than the one ( a 1-2 defeat) they got in the end.

Both sides' managers - Pellegrini and Gary Monk - insist on playing an attractive brand of football, and I am sure that the viewers from all around the world, as well as the supporters of both these football clubs, will be in for a treat this Sunday afternoon.

Read on... as we compare the strengths and weaknesses of both the sides, and what they have been doing lately.

Swansea

Swansea are a great team to watch when they are playing their best football

Monk's side is sitting in 8th place (with 56 points) on the league table and could achieve UEFA Europa League qualification if they win their remaining games and other results work in their favor; a 7th place finish (provided Arsenal win the FA Cup against Aston Villa on May 30th) could be enough to compete in Europe for the Jacks.

Their 14/15 campaign has been slightly up and down, and the Swans have found it difficult to strike consistency. They have managed to string three wins together only on two occasions in the Premier League this season, and it is an area that they would like to rectify this Sunday.

However, having said that, this has been a landmark season in their history, accruing their biggest ever points tally of 56, which is a whopping 9 points more than their previous best of 47.

The Welsh side comes into this game on the back of three consecutive victories, the last of which came against the Gunners at the Emirates Stadium 5 days back.

Ki Sung-yueng, central midfielder, has already enjoyed a dream season at the Liberty, and is the leading goal scorer with 8 goals in 31 league appearances.

Ki is a genuine box-to-box midfielder

Ki will definitely be one of the players to watch out for tomorrow, as he is a genuine box-to-box midfielder who would want to show his worth against the 2013/14 English champions.

Gylfi Sigurdsson is another player, who has enjoyed a very good season after making a permanent move from Tottenham Hotspur last summer.

He has made the third-most number of assists (10) in the Premier League this season, and will be crucial to his side's chances of winning against City.

While the Swans have played with a lot of virtuosity in attack this season, their backline has not been watertight and conceded 44 goals so far in the Premier League.

Lukasz Fabianski, another one of Monk's marquee signings from last summer, has been called into action many times this season, and played a crucial role in his side enjoying the kind of season they have thus far.

The Pole has made 115 saves in 35 league appearances this season, averaging 3.29 saves, which is the most for a Premier League goalkeeper, per game.

Monk prefers to deploy his side in the archetype 4-3-3 system that enables them to play with great fluidity and creativity in midfield, as well as on the flanks, where the likes of Jefferson Montero, Wayne Routledge and Nathan Dyer can be absolutely lethal with their pace and movement.

Going into Sunday's home clash against City, it is paramount that Swansea don't concede goals and rely on their attackers to outshone their counterparts.

Someone like Jonjo Shelvey, with his work rate and ability to play instinctively, will have to come good, if Swansea are to cause problems for their illustrious opponents in a defensive and offensive sense.

Don't be surprised if Swansea sit deep and play on the counterattack, which has been the go-to tactic for most Premier League outfits when playing against the league's highest scorers.

City

Sunday's visitors have won their last four league games on the trot, but it would take a lot out of them to beat an in-form Swansea side this Sunday lunch time.

It has been a much needed turnaround for the Cityzens who, before their last four victories, were not assured of a top four spot and have had to work extremely hard to overtake Arsenal and Manchester United into second place.

Aguero is a pocket-size dynamite, at least in the eyes of City fanatics

Sergio Aguero's goal scoring form has been particularly pleasing to see, with the Argentine scoring 6 goals during his side's current 4-game winning run, taking his tally to 25 league goals for this campaign and putting himself in pole position to win the Golden Boot.

David Silva is back to being consistent after a tough two month period that saw him create 29 chances and score 2 goals - which is considerably low for the kind of high standards he sets for himself - from March 1st until the Manchester derby defeat at Old Trafford

The likes of Fernandinho, Aleksandar Kolarov, Eliaquim Mangala and Pablo Zabaleta, to name a few, have come good of late, and been crucial to their team's recent success.

City have performed well as a unit in recent games, with a majority of their players coming back to form and making their presence felt.

Pellegrini too, deserves his share of credit for conjuring up this turnaround in form after the defeat to the Red Devils, who have since won only 25% of their games.

Pellegrini should be applauded for the way he has engineered a turnaround in City's form

The Chilean manager has resorted to playing just Aguero up top, and that decision has paid rich dividends for him, as well as City, who have consequently been tough to breakdown by the likes of West Ham United, Villains, Spurs and Queens Park Rangers.

The City boss has also played with an unchanged starting XI for his side's last two games, but I would be very surprised if he refrains from calling back the fit again stalwarts - Yaya Toure and Vincent Kompany - who were on the bench for their side's last game against the Rangers.

Even if the duo does come back into the starting XI, it will be interesting to see who they come in place of: Mangala and Martin Demichelis have largely been good as a defensive partnership, and it would be harsh on either of them to be dropped; Toure's selection could be more straightforward, although it would make sense if Pellegrini brings the Ivorian in place of Frank Lampard and not bench one of the two boisterous Brazilian midfielders.

Another potential selection dilemma for Pellegrini is that of Wilfried Bony, who hasn't managed to start any of his side's last three games since regaining fitness.

It could be an emotional moment for him on his return to the Liberty Stadium as a City player, and this aspect will add a bit more spice to this intriguing Premier League encounter.

Tactically, I expect Pellegrini to persevere with the 4-2-3-1 system, albeit with at least 2-3 changes in personnel.

Going into tomorrow's game, City will be relatively confident of beating Swansea, but will have to bring their A-game to the table.

The hosts have got pacey players up their sleeve and, as aforementioned, will look to play on the counterattack. It is important for the visitors to score that first goal, which always helps them play with verve and composure thereafter.

Defensively, they can be sure to face a few questions from the Swansea frontline comprising of Bafetimbi Gomis, Montero and Routledge, most probably.

City, though, will like playing against Swansea, as it will be more of a competitive game and not cagey.

Final Thought

Expect this to be a goal scoring feast, and closely contested battle between two aggressive football teams.

Both teams will fancy their chances of winning, which is the reason why the spectators could be in for a treat.

City will start as favorites, but Swansea will be reasonably confident of posing defensive problems for the visitors.