Empics

Man City's Robinho limps off at Upton Park

£30m Brazilian summer signing Robinho is struggling with an ankle injury while £16m January acquisition Bellamy has a knee problem which will require he meet a specialist in London to assess its seriousness.

With England defender Micah Richardsstruggling to be fit for the home game against Villa thanks to a hamstring problem, under pressure City manager Mark Hughes is facing an injury crisis.

The fear for Hughes is that top scorer Robinho will be out for more than one match. ''He got tackled on the edge of the box late on in the match and he thinks he has got a similar injury to when we played Arsenal a while back and which forced him to miss a number of games,'' said Hughes.

Hughes denied claims that the focus for City's season has switched from the Premier League to the UEFA Cup, the club''s last chance for silverware this season.

If City can see off the challenge for Aalborg they will reach the UEFA Cup quarter-finals and be a step near to a title, but Hughes insists: ''The priority is to finish as high as possible up the Premier League table and to keep our focus.''

And so it should be, unless City beat Villa they could go into their next league fixture against title hopefuls Chelsea just three points above the relegation places.