Manchester City Football Club News

• Nickname:Sky Blues
• Founded:1887
• Manager:Roberto Mancini

• Ground:City of Manchester Stadium
• Capacity:48,000

Hughes hopeful over trio

27 Nov 2008 - 09:45:16

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Manchester City boss Mark Hughes is hopeful that missing trio Robinho, Elano and Pablo Zabaleta will all be available for Sunday's Manchester derby.

The trio have all been ruled out of Thursday's UEFA Cup trip to Germany to face Schalke, but Hughes believes they could all be back in contention when Manchester United visit Eastlands on Sunday.

"Robinho has a (ankle) sprain at the moment so there's a little bit of concern there," he told the club's official website.

"He is certainly not fit for the game against Schalke so he has not travelled with us, but we are hopeful for the weekend.

"Pablo Zabaleta has a thigh injury, he took a bang to the thigh and there's quite a bit of bruising around it.

"There could be a slight strain in there, which is another concern ahead of the weekend.

"Elano's wife has had a baby and there were a few complications so he has stayed behind, but they are all okay so we wish them well."

Meanwhile, Hughes is looking for a positive result against Schalke in order to secure qualification for the next stage at the earliest possible opportunity.

"We would love to get a positive result," he continued. "If we take a point off Schalke and another win at home next week (against Paris St Germain) then maybe seven points will be enough."