Richard Dunne has warned the Republic of Ireland to be on their guard against Man City team-mate Valeri Bojinov.
Republic defender wary of City striker
Richard Dunne has warned the Republic of Ireland to be on their guard against Manchester City team-mate Valeri Bojinov.
Bojinov is expected to be in the Bulgaria side for Saturday's World Cup qualifier in Sofia, alongside another of Dunne's Eastlands colleagues Martin Petrov and Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov.
The trio were all absent when Bulgaria came away from Dublin with a point after a 1-1 draw at Croke Park earlier in the qualifying campaign, and Dunne knows their Group Eight opponents will be a much tougher test with the trio available.
"Valeri's a very sharp player, if anything spills around the box he's usually on the end of it and he doesn't miss too many," said Dunne.
"Himself, Petrov and Berbatov, if they come back into the team, can really cause us problems.
"But we're all really keen to get out to Bulgaria now and get the three points. It's a game we're looking forward to so fingers crossed we can get the result and go on holiday in a good mood."
With Italy not in action in the latest round of qualifiers, Giovanni Trapattoni's men can claim top spot in the group over the summer as they look to continue on the road to South Africa 2010.
Pole position
Bulgaria are in third place in the standings and are unbeaten in their opening five matches, but have won just once to date and are in urgent need of three points to keep their qualification hopes alive.
Dunne and his team-mates are ready to raise themselves for one final push in an attempt to end a gruelling campaign on a high.
"It's the last game of the season for us and probably one of the biggest we've ever had," the centre-back admitted.
"It's a game where we can go back to the top of the group and put ourselves in a good position to qualify.
"I think Bulgaria will be really keen to try to win the game and will come at us, we just have to be sensible and play similarly to how we did against Italy - be patient, take our time and hopefully we can get a break and grab a goal.
"The onus is on them to win the game - if they don't then it's us in pole position."
