Manchester City go in search of their first points of the season when they host West Ham on Sunday.
Boss issues call to fans
Manchester City go in search of their first points of the season when they host West Ham on Sunday.
Boss Mark Hughes has urged supporters to ignore the perceived turmoil at the club and not panic as they open their home account.
City have not had the best of starts to the new campaign after they were beaten in the first leg of their Uefa Cup tie against Midtjylland before conceding four goals at Aston Villa in their Premier League opener last Sunday.
What is more their off-the-field cash flow problems have been subject to talk and Hughes and City will be hoping for something positive against the Hammers.
Out
Valeri Bojinov is missing and is out for six months after tearing his Achilles tendon in the pre-match warm up at Villa Park. The good news is he had surgery on the injury this week and is set to start rehabilitation work next week.
Richard Dunne is also absent as he sits out his second game of a two-match ban. He was forced to miss the first two top flight games of the season following his red card in the final game last year.
Hopeful
West Ham got off to the best possible start as they disposed of Wigan 2-1 in the opening game last Saturday.
The Hammers hope to have key striker Dean Ashton fit and available following a calf injury.
Scott Parker will have hopefully recovered from a thigh injury whilst defender Anton Ferdinand remains out with a hamstring problem, as does Craig Bellamy.
James Collins came through his first match action since suffering a knee ligament injury at the start of the year when the defender played 45 minutes of a closed doors practice game against QPR in midweek but he will not be ready to return for a couple of months.
Kieron Dyer (broken leg), Jonathan Spector (hip), George McCartney (virus), Danny Gabbidon (stomach), James Tompkins (leg) and James Collins (knee) are still out.
Possible starting XIs
Man City: Hart, Corluka, Ben Haim, Richards, Garrido, Etuhu, Johnson, Fernandes, Petrov, Elano, Evans.
West Ham: Green, Behrami, Davenport, Upson, Neill, Faubert, Parker, Noble, Etherington, Ashton, Cole.
