Manchester City captain and defender Vincent Kompany (knee) should return for the Barclays Premier League leaders' trip to Aston Villa on Sunday.
Midfielder Samir Nasri is also in contention after leaving the field with a groin injury in last week's defeat of Fulham.
Striker Mario Balotelli is again missing as he completes a four-match suspension while midfielder Yaya Toure and defender Kolo Toure are still at the African Nations Cup.
Click below to watch boss Roberto Mancini speak at the pre-match press conference
Aston Villa are hopeful of having a trio of players back for the game.
Striker Gabriel Agbonlahor (back and hamstring), winger Marc Albrighton (thigh) and central defender James Collins (calf) have all made good progress towards fitness during the past week.
Midfielder Chris Herd (ankle) remains the only long-term casualty. Striker Robbie Keane will make his final home appearance before returning to the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Click below to listen to MEN Sport reporter Rob Dawson give his views ahead of the game
Aston Villa (from): Given, Guzan, Hutton, Lichaj, Collins, Cuellar, Dunne, Warnock, Baker, Bannan, Clark, Petrov, Ireland, Albrighton, Bent, Keane, Agbonlahor, Heskey, N'Zogbia, Weimann, Marshall, Johnson, Gardner, Stevens.
Manchester City (from): Hart, Pantilimon, Richards, Zabaleta, Lescott, Kompany, Savic, Clichy, Kolarov, Rekik, Milner, Nasri, Johnson, Barry, De Jong, Hargreaves, Pizarro, Silva, Dzeko, Aguero, Razak, Suarez.
Aston Villa league form: LDWDL
Manchester City league form: WWWLW
Key opponent: Robbie Keane - on loan forward always capable of a moment of brilliance
Prediction: Aston Villa 1 Manchester City 2 - City's away form hasn't been great of late but they should win this all the same
Agree with the prediction? Have your say.
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Aston Villa v Manchester City: Video preview
February 10, 2012
Comments
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Our last game without Yaya and Mario, so how great it will feel if we are still two points clear (hopefully more, but let's not be greedy) by Sunday evening. And given that Villa have drawn 2 and lost 4 of their last 6 home outings, I think that we can go into this game with a very healthy dose of belief and optimism.
v Aston Villa
4-4-2:
_______________Hart______________
Richards__Kompany__Lescott__Clichy
_________Silva______Barry_________
__Johnson________________Milner__
______________Aguero____________
______________Dzeko_____________
Subs: Pantilimon, Zabaleta, Savic, De Jong, Pizarro, Suarez, Nasri
Score: 4-2 to City
I just think this’ll be a game for Milner to shine and Johnson worked very hard against Fulham and so deserves his place. I’ve put Barry in there…but he doesn’t seem to do well for us against Villa so this MIGHT be a De Jong game instead.
Hopefully Kompany will be fit and if so, perhaps Villa won’t score 2. But despite being a very average team; a poor home record and possible descent in the home stands, they do have the players going forward to hurt teams and we need to be very wary of that. They also have the dreaded…Robbie Keane!
But I think our confidence is back and if Villa come at us, which I think they will; I think we’ll hurt them, more than they’ll hurt us.
dunney will have dzeko in his pocket if he starts. keep him on the bench, run dunney etc ragged, then bring dzeko on later if required, when they're tired
hart;
richards, kompany, lescott, clichy;
de jong, barry;
milner, silva, nasri;
aguero
I think it's a game we must win to keep momentum going for when the cavalry returns.
we can do with a little favour from our friends on the mersey tomorrow. A with Steve Droylsden team selection.
CTID...
Robbie Keane and Darren Bent like us, so its vital Kompany is back. A win on Sunday and thats 12 points out of 15 since the Toures went and we have a couple of suspensions too. My head says 1 - 1.
same lineup as against fulham (except kompany in for savic and clichy for kolarov). did the job with aplomb will do the same to the villans
1-3 City win!
A must win game, anything else is a failure! We have to wake up & smell the coffee what has gone b4 has happened, it is now about results, United get this, Spuds get this & now we have to & quickly. Having just seen Spurs destroy Newcastle we need to play to win from the off, a big pitch @ villa park - this game will be won on pace which if our tactics are right we have plenty off; on paper Villa are not that good, but as we should all be aware teams raise their games against us & true champions elect finish the job!
Go get'em boys!!