City are short of numbers

Injury-ravaged Manchester City head to Chelsea for their Barclays Premiership match without 10 senior stars tomorrow.

Andy Cole and Nedum Onuoha (both knee) and Stephen Jordan (ankle) are out for the season, while Joey Barton, Georgios Samaras and Antoine Sibierski (all ankle), Albert Riera (thigh), Claudio Reyna (shoulder) and Trevor Sinclair (knee) are set to be missing for at least a fortnight.

In addition, Sun Jihai starts a four-match ban following his dismissal in the FA Cup defeat to West Ham, so Matthew Mills, Ishmael Miller, Ashley Grimes and Marc Laird could all be drafted into Pearce’s travelling party.

Provisional squad: James, Weaver, D Mills, Dunne, Distin, Thatcher, Sommeil, Richards, Croft, Ireland, Musampa, Vassell, Wright-Phillips, Flood, M Mills, Miller, Grimes, Laird.