Man City v Fulham preview

Manchester City manager Mark Hughes is likely to field his strongest XI against Fulham in the third round of the Carling Cup on Wednesday. City, unlike Fulham, have no European distractions and are keen on making it all the way to Wembley despite their primary goal of finishing in the Premier League's top four. Hughes fielded a strong line-up against Crystal Palace in the last round and is likely to adopt a similar strategy in order to return to winning ways following Sunday's derby defeat. However, some of Hughes' selections are forced as Emmanuel Adebayor is suspended, while Robinho (ankle), Roque Santa Cruz (knee), Vincent Kompany (toe) and Michael Johnson (abdominal) are all unavailable. Sylvinho or Javier Garrido could replace Wayne Bridge at left-back, although the rest of Hughes' backline is sure to be unchanged with Nedum Onuoha on the sidelines after injuring a thigh in reserve action. Controversial striker Craig Bellamy could well lead City's attack with Martin Petrov in line to make his first start of the season on the left flank as Carlos Tevez is likely to be rested. Cottagers boss Roy Hodgson is set to make wholesale changes once again for their trip to the City of Manchester Stadium. Hodgson is set to revert back to the second-string squad that drew 1-1 with CSKA Sofia in the Europa League last Thursday night after making 10 changes for Sunday's defeat at Wolves. "The chance to put out a different group of players can be advantageous," said Hodgson. "I was really excited by what the players who played CSKA Sofia were able to do and a lot of them will be available on Wednesday." Simon Davies, Jonathan Greening and Diomansy Kamara are all likely to get another chance to press their claims from the start after appearing off the bench at Molineux. Kamara could lead the line along with Erik Nevland while Bjorn Helge Riise should come in for Damien Duff with Zoltan Gera replacing Clint Dempsey.

Source: SKY_Sports