Man City v Omonia preview

Hughes: Will he be celebrating on Thursday?

Related links

Teams

• Manchester City

Also see

• Man City fixtures
• Man City stats
• Man City forum

Manchester City hope to book their place in the Uefa Cup group stages when they face Omonia Nicosia.

The Blues hold a slender 2-1 lead heading into the second leg of their first round contest, but away goals could prove crucial if things do not go according to plan at Eastlands.

The confidence-boosting victory in the Cypriot capital a fortnight ago was followed by a 6-0 Premier League humbling of Portsmouth, but City have come off the rails since then.

A disappointing exit from the Carling Cup at the hands of Brighton was followed by a 2-1 defeat to Wigan on Sunday.

However, Mark Hughes will be confident that he has the quality at his disposal to ensure City's European adventure extends past Thursday night.

They may not have things all their own way, though, as Omonia have won all three of their league games this season 2-0, and know that scoreline would be enough to see them through.

They also invested heavily over the summer and will be hoping their experienced stars shine in Manchester.

Enforcer

City's giant Belgian midfielder Vincent Kompany will be looking to shut out the Cypriots, and he is expected to shake off a slight knee problem in time for the game.

The towering enforcer suffered the knock during the weekend trip to Wigan but has recovered well during the days since that defeat.

However, Hughes will be unable to call upon Martin Petrov (hamstring) and Michael Johnson (groin) for the crunch encounter.

Omonia have few injury headaches heading in to the game and will turn to Argentine striker Francisco Aguirre to fire them to victory.

The former St Gallen hit-man has a prolific track record and will be keen to prove his worth on English soil.

Veteran Romanian front-man Claudiu Niculescu will help to carry the burden of goalscoring expectation and has plenty of prior experience in European competition.

Meanwhile, talismanic skipper Costas Kaiafas, who has been with Omonia for 16 years, will look to keep Robinho and co. quiet in the middle of the park.