Man City v Portsmouth match preview

Man City travels to Fratton Park to face Portsmouth on Saturday afternoon with Mark Hughes' side sitting ninth in the table. Following last weeks solid 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough, the Citizens are brimming with confidence and hopeful for a surge in the second half of the season.

Buoyed by the virtuoso display in Brazil's 2-0 victory over Italy mid-week, Mark Hughes is looking for Elano to continue the electrifying tone he set and will likely get his opportunity in the starting grid. However if three points are to be had for the Citizen's it will need to go against the grain of a deplorable record away from Eastlands which as accounted for only a single victory this season.

For the match Mark Hughes will be without Richard Dunne and Shaun Wright-Phillips, who are both in the sin bin along with Benjani,Valeri Bojinov, Martin Petrov and Daniel Sturridge to injury. For Pompey, the situation is far from cheery as they sit only a single point above the relegation zone and haven't won since November whilst losing their most recent three matches. Caretaker manager Paul Hart is still without
Papa Bouba Diop and Richard Hughes but does have Armand Traore, Marc Wilson and Younes Kaboul available.