Anelka struggling for City
Nicolas Anelka looks set to miss Monday’s televised trip to Middlesbrough after failing to recover from an ankle injury.
City’s £13m (€18.8m) record signing has not trained since limping out of the win at Portsmouth a fortnight ago and his likely absence should at least spare manager Kevin Keegan the tricky decision of whether to split in-form duo Robbie Fowler and Jon Macken.
Steve McManaman (Achilles), Ben Thatcher (ankle) and Claudio Reyna (groin) are all still sidelined, while Jihai Sun and Trevor Sinclair (both knee) have long since been ruled out for the season.
Team (from): James, Waterreus, Onuoha, Mills, Distin, Sommeil, Dunne, Bosvelt, Flood, D’Lareya, S Wright-Phillips, Barton, Sibierski, Fowler, Jordan, Macken, B Wright-Phillips.
