Red-carded Balotelli to miss clash with United

SOCCER:MARIO BALOTELLI will miss tomorrow night's Manchester derby after accepting his dismissal against West Bromwich Albion on Sunday but the Italian remains hopeful that the three-match ban he received will be reduced to one game on appeal.

The Manchester City striker, who was given a straight red card for kicking out at Youssouf Mulumbu, after he had earlier scored both goals in Sunday’s 2-0 victory at The Hawthorns, will learn whether his appeal has been successful today when an independent regulatory commission meets to discuss his sending off.

City will claim the incident involving Mulumbu was worthy of only a second caution – Balotelli had earlier been booked for dissent – and would therefore carry a one-match ban rather than the mandatory three-game suspension that follows a straight red card for violent conduct.

It would, however, be a major surprise if Balotelli was successful with his appeal and the likelihood remains he will be forced to sit out Saturday’s home game against Birmingham City and the trip to Fulham the following weekend as well as United’s visit to Eastlands.

Paul Scholes has revealed Manchester United will take great pleasure if City’s long wait for a trophy continues as the two clubs prepare to meet at Eastlands. A banner draped across the Stretford End reminds City it has been 34 years since they last won silverware, and Scholes hopes the club his manager Alex Ferguson has derided as “noisy neighbours” will endure another unsuccessful season.

“We want to win trophies,” Scholes said. “But we can’t win everything and while we don’t get the option of choosing who wins the others, there are some teams you would rather see do it and others you would prefer not to. We are all desperate to stay above City. That goes for everyone. Even a 21-year-old newcomer to the club will feel the same way. We wouldn’t like City to win anything in much the same way as they wouldn’t want us to win anything else.”

Scholes acknowledged that expectations levels have changed at City and the club are a major force in the Premier League. “Maybe City expect a bit more than they have done in the past and rightly so with the money they have spent and the players they have bought,” he said.

“The fact is City are a top team. They have spent a lot of money on quality players and had a great start to the season. Maybe they have come unstuck a little bit lately but form does go out of the window on occasions such as this. Anything can happen on derby night.”