Missing stars hitting tired Blues hard

The City kit boss and former Latics star writes every week for Chron Sport
THE absence of Nigel De Jong, James Milner, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Adam Johnson has hit Manchester City hard, especially as we are playing every three or four days.

Even though they are not all necessarily regular starters, just having such good players back from injury and on the bench gives the 11 men on the pitch such a psychological boost.

The lads are tired at the moment and that showed in the second half of the 1-0 win over Wigan Athletic at Eastlands.

Roberto Martinez’s men could easily have snatched a draw late in the game, but we held on for three vital points.

In our pursuit of a top-four finish, the importance of the result cannot be underestimated, and the fact Tottenham dropped two points in a 3-3 draw at Wolves can only be a good thing for ourselves.

As far as the title race is concerned, Liverpool’s 3-1 win against Manchester United at Anfield was a big result for Arsenal, who may have felt they had blown it by drawing 0-0 with Sunderland.

The Gunners still have to play United at the Emirates in what is shaping up to be a huge match.

I was in work yesterday getting the gear ready for the Dynamo Kiev game on Thursday, which is a last-16 Europa Cup tie.

The temperature in Kiev is fluctuating between minus six and minus 12, so we are taking more items than usual..

I am sure it will be a difficult encounter. Kiev thrashed Beskitas 6-1 on aggregate in the last round.

Although Liverpool and ourselves are the favourites to win the competition in the eyes of many, there are a lot of good teams left in the Europa Cup, and a long way to go if we are to reach the final in Dublin.