Yang Yang Didn't Come!

Manchester City Stadium, located in the eastern suburbs of Manchester, could hold 47,620 people.

The stadium had originally been planned and built as a bid venue for the 2000 Olympics, but after the bid was lost to Sydney, Australia, the plan died before it could be born. It was instead used for Manchester's bid to host the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

After 2002, the stadium was leased to Man City at an extremely low price as compensation for demolishing the club's old home, Maine Road Stadium. Manchester then renovated the new stadium, turning it into one of the Premier League's most advanced venues.

After Thaksin acquired Man City, he had proposed expanding City Stadium and turning it into the Premier League's finest home ground. But for various reasons, the plan failed. Now, with the Abu Dhabi consortium taking over, Manchester's plan to renovate and expand the stadium had resurfaced.

The wealthy Abu Dhabi consortium brought Man City not only plans for a stadium expansion, but also a large number of star players: Robinho, Elano, Zabaleta, Wright-Phillips, Kompany, Jo...

The Head Coach had also changed from the former Swedish man Eriksson to Britain's own Mark Hughes. His record at Blackburn had made him a rising domestic manager in Britain, and he was highly regarded.

So far this season, Man City had played six league matches, winning three and losing three.

Losing 4–2 away to Aston Villa in the opening round had not been surprising. Villa Park was famous in the Premier League as a devilish home ground, and Man City had just been rebuilt. They then thrashed West Ham United 3–0 at home and Sunderland 3–0 away, making a huge impression.

Two consecutive comprehensive victories had caused Mark Hughes's team to lose sight of their place. They had actually tried to attack