Manchester City look likely to be without £46m of striking talent when they face Aston Villa in the Premier League on Wednesday.
£30m Brazilian summer signing Robinho is struggling with an ankle injury while £16m January acquisition Craig Bellamy has a knee problem.
With England defender Micah Richards struggling 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.
”He (Robinho) 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
If City can see off the challenge for Aalborg they will reach the UEFA Cup quarter-finals, but Hughes insists: ”The priority is to finish as high as possible up the Premier League table and to keep our focus.”
