CITY'S England defender Micah Richards is expected to shake off a dead leg and face Bolton.
Claudio Reyna could come into contention following a hamstring injury while Dietmar Hamann remains sidelined with a back problem.
Bernardo Corradi is ruled out through suspension but Ben Thatcher returns to the squad following a ban.
City are looking to bounce back after their first home league defeat of the season last Sunday at the hands of Tottenham, and Pearce has been pleased with the reaction of the squad to the defeat.
He said: "The players know that if I think they are not playing well enough they will be taken off the pitch.
Consistency
"On top of that other players realise there are places up for grabs in the team.
"Everyone has to perform on a daily basis to get in the side."
Pearce added: "The system Bolton play works and you have to give Sam Allardyce credit for that."
"They have shown more consistency than Manchester City, that's for sure."
Bolton striker El-Hadji Diouf is available again after suspension for the game.
Diouf, who has weighed in with five goals this season, looks likely to replace Kevin Davies, who is banned.
Defenders Tal Ben Haim and Ricardo Gardner are pushing for places in the starting line-up but Quinton Fortune is again ruled out with an Achilles injury.
Manchester City: Weaver, Richards, Dunne, Distin, Jordan, Thatcher, Trabelsi, Barton, Reyna, Samaras, Vassell, Dickov, Isaksson, Ireland, Dabo, Onuoha, Beasley, M Mills, Miller, Hart.
Bolton Wanderers: Jaaskelainen, Hunt, Meite, Ben Haim, Faye, Pedersen, Gardner, Campo, Giannakopoulos, Nolan, Speed, Anelka, Diouf, Vaz Te, Al Habsi, Tal, Fojut, Smith.
Last season: City 0 Bolton 1
Key opponent: Nicolas Anelka - Jet-heeled striker will be out to down his former club
Prediction: City 1 Bolton 1 - There should be a reaction from the Blues following the Spurs defeat, but Bolton have won their last two
Agree with the prediction? Have your say.
For all the latest odds from Betfred, click
here.
Comments
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SP has put up the white flag before they have even started. Bolton's system works? Yeah, and? Of course it works. And ours would too if we had got the right players in the summer and they all showed the right attitude like JB and Dunne. As it is, 0-2 tomorrow and Anelka is bound to score! I normally get predictions wildly wrong though so here's hoping! As for the crowd, 35,500 at best.
Will anyone boo Anelka? I certainly wont because he was a fantastic player for us and the clubs small thinking is the reason he left. I don't blame him one bit. We sold Anelka and brought in Dickov, Corradi and Samaras. Nuff said.
And so the hunt for Daniel Sturridge continues.
DAMM RIGHT THERE HAS TO BE A REACTION,WIGAN AND THAT FIRST HALF SHOULD NEVER BE ALLOWERD TO HAPPEN AGAIN .SP IF YOU CAN MOTIVATE THEM AND I AM NOT SURE YOU CAN GIVE THEM HELL AND PLEASE DONT HAVE REYNA ANYWHERE NEAR THE GROUND,NOT CONFIDENT AT ALL,
bbc website challenge Lawro - - City - 0 Bolton - 2 thats how far down Pearce has took us. every pundit in the land thinks we are SMALL TIME thats fact! only for bolton taking their full allocation the crowd would be under 33,000 thats means a 10,000 drop since SP took over - SOMETHINGS NOT RIGHT HERE Mr WARDLE Eh it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work that out.
Newbrook agree with you 100% but I'm sure the boo boys will have their day thus motivating Anelka too rub our faces in it
Let's face it... We're rubbish!
I will always support City but the current team is not a Premiership outfit..5 goals in 18 games for our "STRIKEFORCE" ? That is laughable. I would have scored more by now and I'm 35 with dodgy knees..hang on a minute..... I better send Pearce my CV
Please not Dickov, please not Dickov, please not Dickov
where on earth does your pathetic manager get the idea from that city have a great home record? ha ha ha ha. out of the 27 pts available 11 were lost ha ha ha aint exactly great is it????? ha ha ha ha ha and after Bolton have beat you it will be worse ha ha ha ha YOU ARE GOING DOWNNNNNNNN
I came across Lawro's mate Hansen recently and asked what he thought about our chances of survival. To paraphrase his reply it was 'not a lot'
u just know pearce will name the same poor team ,like last wk,change it rnd u wally.bolton to kick lumps out of us .anelka to come back to haunt us of course.
Cant see us getting the much needed win.
On current form a point will be a good result although hope Im proved wrong.
Bartons form has been a real plus of late but we have no width and our strikers are dismal
Any one heard rumours that Jewell/David Jones may be lined up if we get lose the next 2 ?
Corradi, Samaras, Vassell and Dickov just need some confidence. We played well against Villa and Fulham; we can look like a tasty Premiership team, not often... but occasionally!
As you can see, I am forever the optimist.
Prediction: City 1 Bolton 2.
I am also a realist ;-)
CTID
You told us Reyna was injured, you muppets at the Men. Now there's a chance of him being fit. You've ruined my friday, totally ruined it. If reyna passes a fitness test , he will play, I tell ya.
I'd very much like to see Vassell up front with Samaras, Vassell is quick in the flank but everyone knows he is much more useful as striker. Dickov or Sturridge or both as subs. So my 4-4-2 would be like this: Weaver - Onuoha(r), Thatcher (l) Dunne, Distin - Trabelsi(r), Miller(l), Barton, Dabo - Vassell, Samaras. Richards must rest, I can't believe why this is even an issue.
We're down, If we keep SP, we are down.
Sentiment should go out the window, he's not good enough, plain and simple.
Any chance SP will ever give Beasley a true run out?? I dont know if he has put in a full 90 since coming to the club, at least give him a reasonable chance to make an impression.
No Graham Poll to shaft us tomorrow, but alas Ragboy Riley is on standby to see to it that we get nothing. No Kevin Davies tomorrow for them, which is good news for us, cos he's always a right dirty handful, but we'll miss Corradi more than they miss him. Oh, and watch the touchline jester play Dickov, Samaras and Reyna instead of Vassell, Miller and Ireland.......!
Would like to see Ireland given an extended run - believe he is our only hope of more progressive / creative football amongst our current crop. Generally sound at the back, but woefully short of ideas going forward. Need a proper holding midfielder (Dabo) to free both Ireland and top scorer Barton, also allowing other wide midfielders to attack - looked good in last 30 mins v Spuds. My team v Bolton and until we get more players in: WEAVER - MICAH, DUNNEY, DISTIN, THATCHER - DABO - TRABS, JOEY, IRELAND, VASSELL - SAMARAS (CORRADI when available). Happy with Isaksson, Onuoha or Sinclair to come in if and when needed. In transfer window need just two additions IMO - Nugent as 1st choice lone striker (Corradi to back-up, Samaras to wherever) + attacking left back / left wingback. Sounds crazy, especially at the moment, but I reckon with change of formation + 2, this could make us a decent top 10 side. Alternatively, carry on as we are without any creativity and at best we'll be hanging on looking for 0-0s or 1-0s for the rest of the season in front of less and less fans heading towards the unthinkable.
Craig from new york i agree with you, SP give beasley a chance.
I like sp and wish things could have gone better for him.Iv'e got a feeling he'll be gone by saturday evening though.
why not play dickov out wide and put vassell up front ,dickov put a great cross in for barton and can still put defenders under pressure and vas will give us some pace up front, just a thought ??
Stevie Ireland has had 2 goodish performances in a row now. We need to keep playing him and just behind the front 2. 4-4-2 with Vass and Samaras up front. (no gloves and neck warmer please). Midfield of Trabelsi, Barton, Ireland and Miller. Please no players out of position. Sturridge to have a longish run out.
Mark Johnson, Manchester: Well said. Anyone know what's happened there? I heard that Sturridge had gotten over his injury, was getting his match fitness back but didn't play in a reserve game last week...
I been saying all season we don't have the players (i.e no natural wingers) to play a 4-42 effectively and think we should start with the 3-5-2 system we deployed in the second half against Spurs. Micah, Nedum and Dunney as the back three with Trabelsi and Distin as wing backs (no other option on the left as there both slow). Dabo, Ireland and Barton upfront and take your pick from Dickov or Samaras to partner Vassell upfront! However, agree if most on here that SP will stick to 4-4-2 and kepp Reyna in ahead of Ireland.