Roberto Mancini boosted by Emmanuel Adebayor's return for Manchester City

Posted Monday, March 29, 2010 by theguardian.com

Roberto Mancini boosted by Emmanuel Adebayor's return for Manchester City
Manchester City's Emmanuel Adebayor is back after a four-game suspension.

Roberto Mancini believes the return of Emmanuel Adebayor against Wigan Athletic tomorrow night can revive Manchester City's push to penetrate the top four and qualify for the Champions League.

Mancini has been able to pair the £25m striker with Carlos Tevez from the start of only three games out of 17 for City this year. Adebayor's trip to the Africa Nations Cup in Angola, when the Togo team bus was attacked by terrorists, was followed by Tevez's return to South America, where his daughter was born prematurely.

Just as Tevez was about to return, the Togo striker was then sent off at Stoke, earning a four-match ban that he has only just finished. The disruption has hampered City's challenge and after last Wednesday's defeat by Everton, they need to get back on track swiftly.

Although City remain masters of their own destiny as they entertain their rivals Tottenham, who currently occupy fourth spot, in their penultimate game, they trail the north London side by five points. With that in mind, Mancini is glad to have Adebayor available for the visit of Wigan.

"We have missed Emmanuel a lot and his return will give us a major boost for the run-in," said Mancini. "If we can play with Manu and Carlos for the remaining matches, I think we will be fine."

Mancini, who could face disciplinary action following his touchline spat with Everton's manager David Moyes, is keen for his side to put their last game behind them.

"We are all fighting for one position and for me it is vital we forget the Everton match and move on; that is how we work," he said. "When we beat Chelsea we immediately moved on. The same was true of Fulham last week. It's in the past. The next game is always the most important."

Mancini could benefit from some inside information on Wigan through Adam Johnson. The winger has said he will speak to his old Middlesbrough team-mate Lee Cattermole, who played for Wigan last season, to see if he can pick up any secrets about City's opponents.

"I will probably have a chat with Lee Cattermole and see if I can get any useful info from him because he had a good spell with Wigan," said Johnson. "But they could well arrive with a similar game plan to Everton and try and frustrate us.

"It will be up to us to take the game to them, so hopefully I can get on the ball more than I did against Everton when I didn't have my best game."