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Micah Richards is one of the few players in the Manchester city team to have come through from the academy.

Several of the players who had come through along with him have left the club due to intense pressure from expensive signings. The same fate could befall Richards since he is finding very little first-team football due to the form of Pablo Zabaleta.

Richards is the longest serving player at the club, but he has been widely linked with a move in the January transfer window in order to improve his chances of playing for the England national team at World Cup 2014.

Manchester City have been extremely poor away from home this season. They were beaten 3-2 by the likes of Cardiff and Aston Villa in the Premier league, but they managed to find a winning form in the 3-1 win over West Ham last weekend.

This victory was extremely crucial for Manuel Pellegrini because they have to take advantage of Manchester United’s dropped points. Their arch rivals could only manage a 1-1 draw with Southampton at home. After managing to hold out United for long periods of the match, Southampton struck with a late equaliser.

Manchester City defender Micah Richards is expected to get more first-team opportunities after the arrival of new manager Manuel Pellegrini. He was not exactly a favourite of former manager Roberto Mancini.

The club failed to win any major trophy last season, while they have lifted only the Premier league and FA Cup in the last two years. As a result, many see the time of Mancini at Manchester City as a mediocre success because he spent a huge amount of money on players. Pellegrini has also brought in four players in different areas of the pitch for a combined outlay of £ 90 million.

Football based slot games have become something of a phenomenon in recent years – further increasing the appeal of online casino by encouraging football betting fans to try out a different way of mixing the two. The number of football slots games that have emerged is great for fans of the game and of casino, as it means more choice, but it also ensures that the games have to keep offering something a bit special if they are to attract any attention at all in such a crowded market. One game competing for this attention is Soccer Safari, a video slot with thirty pay lines and five reels – but does it deliver?

Manchester City are set to offer new contracts to their star defenders Micah Richards and Pablo Zabaleta according to the chairman of the club. The club recently spent a lot of money extending the contracts of stars like David Silva, Sergio Aguero, and Yaya Touré.

They are follow suit with new deals for Zabaleta and Richards, who have been key players in the success they have achieved over the last three years under Roberto Mancini. Even though the Italian recently left the club, City are looking to build on the success by extending the contracts of these players.

Chairman of the club, Khaldoon Al Mubarak has said that they are keen on building on the future. Since Richards and Zabaleta have several years of football left in them, the club do not seem to be worried about offering them a new deal. The Argentine defender, Zabaleta has been very influential for the club not only with his performances on the pitch, but with his leadership qualities off the pitch as well. After failing to win the league last season, it is expected that several key signings in order to strengthen their squad. They are expected to spend well in excess of £ 50 million this summer.

“We want to assure that these two players will continue to be part of City’s future. Just as we must continue to invest in new players, we must also invest in the heart of our team, and that includes these two players,” said the chairman. Manchester City also have to sort out futures of their star players like Vincent Kompany, who have been linked with a move away from the club. Kompany, who has been a star for the club in recent years, is apparently unhappy with the club due to several reasons and is angling for a move.

As City enter into the final stages of the season, they still find themselves a massive 12 points behind the archrivals Manchester United in the table. However, the City manager Roberto Mancini has said that he is feeling extremely confident that the club will be able to overturn this deficit like they did last season.

He has said that the tiring schedule of Manchester United will start to show an effect sooner rather than later. United were almost knocked out of 2 cup competitions in the space of a few days. If they have lost to Chelsea in the FA Cup quarter-final match, then it would have left Sir Alex Ferguson’s men with only the Premier league to fight.

As it is, they still are in the FA Cup in which they will be taking on Chelsea in the quarter-final replay match at Stamford Bridge. City have been playing one game a week for several months. They recently managed to secure a place in the semifinals of the FA Cup following a 5-0 win in the quarter-finals. Aside from the FA Cup, they need to concentrate only on the league. As a result, Mancini claims that his players will be much fresher in the final stages of the season.

“Football is strange for this. Sometimes you lose a game, you don’t know why. Maybe one, two, three games. We took two points from three games against Liverpool, Southampton, QPR [in late January and early February]. Sometimes this can happen. United are playing very well this season, they played fantastic against Real Madrid. But 10 games until the end is a difficult moment because all the teams can be tired after eight months. We hope,” said the City manager, whose team have only a handful of games to close the gap.

The Manchester City defender Michael Richards has said that he is hoping to return to first-team action by the start of February. He has recently undergone a successful operation for the knee injury he sustained a few weeks ago. The 24-year-old has been one of the impressive players for Manchester City over the last few months.

The fact that he will not be available during the month of January will be a major loss to the manager Roberto Mancini, but he will definitely have the defender for the crucial final three months of the season. City are only a few points below the leaders Manchester United and are hoping to retain the title for a first time in their history.

Micah Richards was initially expected to be out for the rest of the season after suffering an injury in the Champions League match against Ajax. However, the injury has not been as severe as initially feared and the defender is expected to be back in the first week of February. This is likely to mean that he will miss the first few rounds of the FA Cup, while also crucial matches in the Premier league. City do not have anything to complete other than the Premier league and the FA Cup this season.

“I am not putting a date on when I will be back because these things are never exact but I am hoping it will be in early February. There is still not too much I can do but I am now on one crutch instead of two so that is progress. Of course it is frustrating and there is nothing more I would like than to be out there playing but I am being well looked after, the injury is responding and the knee getting stronger every day,” said the defender.