What a week. Two one nil wins on the bounce, six points and up to fourth in the division. Are you watching Nottingham? We’re now just four points behind Forest with a game in hand. The automatic spots may just be out of reach, but Nigel Pearson will be challenging the players to finish as high up the table as possible.

If we can win our game in hand and then beat West Brom at the Hawthorns, we’ll be just three points off the Baggies. Stranger things have happened! Another three points against Cov this weekend and who knows?

Beating Cardiff was one of those wins that we’ll look back on at the end of the season as being crucial in claiming a play-off place. It was a tight game for long periods, but I thought City were always comfortable and looked the more likely to win.

I liked what I saw from new loan-signing James Vaughan. He’s got pace, determination and seems to have a bit of the devil in him, in terms of putting defenders under pressure and chasing lost causes. He gives Pearson another excellent option and when he gets a bit fitter, I’m sure he’ll score some important goals. Like the other young players Nigel has brought in, I expect that Vaughan will improve under the gaffer.

Nobby Solano also impressed me at right-back. Despite being a winger, he was pretty solid in defence and made one really important interception in the first half. If he can play his trumpet as well as he can hit a free-kick, I’ll be looking to sign him and his salsa band up for a few of my upcoming events. I better be careful though, I don’t want to get in trouble with Nigel for tapping up one of his players!

Having Solano on the right and Bruno Berner on the left means City have two attacking full-backs and that coupled with the 4-3-3 formation means the lads are playing some positive stuff at the moment. Bruno hit the knockout blow against Palace on Tuesday by scoring the winning goal and the Swiss star is right at the top of his game at the moment.

City are on an amazing run of form. They’ve only lost one game in eleven and have kept a clean sheet in four of the last five. That’s title winning form and although Newcastle pretty much have top spot sewn up, that second automatic place might just be within their reach.

This Sunday’s fixture with Coventry is massive. The Sky Blues are enjoying a good run of form and still in with a shout for the play-offs. I usually view the ‘M69 derby’, as it’s labelled, as just another fixture, but I see Sunday’s match as crucial. It’s the first of two home games in a week, with Reading coming up on Wednesday and although both sides have been on good form, I can see City getting six points out of six.

Chris Coleman has done a really good job on a pretty limited budget at the Ricoh Arena. Jon Stead is certainly a player we’ll have to watch out for, but with the form Jack Hobbs is in, I’m sure he’ll have a place saved in his back pocket for the striker.

Hobbs is really impressing me at the moment. He’s strong in the air, solid in the tackle and can play a bit too. I’ve read this week that Jack’s being considered by Stuart Pearce for the England Under 21’s squad and from what I’ve seen he can definitely play at that level and probably higher.

The game at Cov earlier in the campaign finished in a 1-1 draw, with Martyn Waghorn slamming home one of City’s goals of the season, to claim the point. I think Leicester have a great chance of grabbing all three points on Sunday and victory would more or less put Coventry out of the play-off picture.

As far as I’m concerned, the Sky Blues are a pale imitation of Leicester City. If City hit top form then I’d fancy our forwards to leave their defence as exposed as Lady Godiva on a nudist beach. Let’s send them back to Coventry with their tales between their legs and pointless!

Leicester are storming the overall head-to-head record between the two clubs in all competitions, winning 35 games to their 25, with 21 draws. The last meeting between the sides at the Walkers Stadium came in January 2008. City won 2-0 thanks to goals from Steve Howard and Barry Hayles in what turned out to be an all too rare win under former gaffer Ian Holloway.

A glimpse at the matchday squad from that game shows how much Nigel Pearson has changed things. The only surviving members, who have featured this season, are Steve Howard, Matty Fryatt and Matt Oakley. Stephen Clemence remains at the club, but has hardly played a game since then. There were a few other players that didn’t exactly cover themselves in glory, including Gabor Bori and Zsolt Laczko… who? It just shows how far we’ve come under Nigel.

I’d like to say a thank you to Danny Punia at Shimla Pinks Indian restaurant on London Road, who’s become the first official sponsor of the blog. We’re planning to do a blog from the restaurant in the next few weeks and sample some of their amazing food, so look out for that.

For this week’s wager I’m going for a treble of tough away wins. I’m backing Reading, Preston and Swansea to do the business. As always Fitzy from Turner and Kendrick will be donating a £25 bet for Wishes4Kids.

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