Manchester City manager Mark Hughes says Brazilian star Robinho is relishing the prospect of facing Chelsea.
The 24-year-old is expected to make his City debut on Saturday and Hughes said Robinho had made a point of saying how much he was looking forward to facing the club who came close to signing him from Real Madrid - only to be gazumped by City's £32.5m bid.
City have hired a private jet to fly back their South American players Robinho, Elano, Jo and Pablo Zabaleta from international duty and they are due to arrive in Manchester at midnight on Thursday, giving them vital extra hours to prepare for the match with Chelsea on Saturday evening.
good sign
All eyes however will be on Robinho, and Hughes said: "On the day I met him in London 10 days ago, one of the first things he said was that he can't wait for the game because he can't wait to play against Chelsea, so that's a good sign.
"The intention is that he plays a part on Saturday. The one impression everyone has of Robinho is that as soon as he gets the ball you sense something is going to happen and I think everyone will see that at the weekend.
"By all accounts he did not pick up any injuries [against Bolivia] and played 90 minutes, but like all the players who have been away on international duty we will have to get them back and have a look at them."
Going into this I'm really confident for once. I don't think just because of Robinho we'll be world beaters, I just think we're riding on the crest of a wave at the moment, there's so much enthusiasm and excitement around the club too. It'll be interesting to see what we play and how the players respond to changes at the club right now. Here's what I think we'll play. I'm going for 1-0 or 2-0.
I doubt SWP and Robinho will spend much time on the wings though. I don't think Elano will start because he's been away and Ireland's been playing well. And I reckon we'll set up with 2 defensive midfielders, because let's face it, they're still a much better side than us. No point going out stupidly just because we've bought a couple of players.
He's getting flown back on a private jet with Elano, Jo and Zabaleta so he arrives in England today. It's an evening kick off so he has a bit of recovery time.
Don't you spend most of your time refreshing the XTPL thread and whinging about people not submitting their drafts even though it's two days before the deadline? p
Ever since I finished Uni I have no life basically :howler: Not that I feel bad or anything, I can't think of many better things to be doing than watching football
Kompany is an absolute beast in that midfield. Redefines the 'midfield enforcer' role.
Good half. Chelsea are obviously the class outfit here but Man City have insane amounts of potential, here. You could probably do with having a bit more dynamism in CM seeing as though Hamaan basically just stands there these days. Johnson would be a positive move come the hour mark.
Robinho is pure sex though. Super silky player to watch.