The Blues travel to Goodison Park today to meet Everton, one of the sides that are hampered by the African Nations Cup. Unavailable for them are Steven Pienaar, Joseph Yobo and Yakubu Ayegbeni.

Everton is far from an easy place to visit, but Sven and his side will travle there in good spirits and with confidence high as they seek to extend the recent unbeaten run to six.

Few changes are expected in the City line-up, Brazilian genius Elano is likely to return to the starting line-up after missing the game at West Ham in the F.A.Cup. Nery Castillo may be the man to step aside.

City's Player of the Month for December, Richard Dunne, will lead his side out against his former club. Dunne has been an inspiration at the back and his partnership with Micah Richards has become integral to the success of the Blue this season.

I expect City to come home with something to show for this trip, any side that has Phil Neville as a key member of the side is surely there for the taking. Andy Johnson's movement will always represent a threat and will keep Richards and Dunne on their toes, and in Tim Cahill they have a clever attacking midfielder that makes late runs into the box that are exceptionally difficult to pick up and the lad can finish aswell. However, on the break we should create more than our own fair share of problems for the Everton defence and Martin Petrov may be the difference, good luck to Tony Hibbert, he may need it.

Prediction :

Everton 0-1 Man City  

                 Petrov 38

Man City's Bulgarian striker Valeri Bojinov hopes to be back in full training in the next two weeks following the injury he picked up in the derby against Manchester Utd back in August.

Bojinov,21, landed awkwardly and dameaged his knee ligaments but is a month ahead of schedule in his rehabilitation.

The powerful striker is reported to be very hungry to return to the City side and display his talents to the City faithful that the injury has not permitted him to do so far.

It is no secret that there are two certainties with Man City this January. They have money to spend, how much is open to interpretation, and they are targetting a striker, therefore any striker over the past few weeks that has endured a little unrest at his club has been thrown in as a viable City option. So let's have a glance through the list of potentials and assess the reality of their transfer actually coming to fruition :-

Nicolas Anelka (Bolton) - Likely Fee : Around £15m Other clubs interested : Chelsea, Man Utd. Would he make a good addition : Anelka's quality is rarely in question, his attitude generally is. Likelihood of his arrival : (Marks out of 5, with 5 the likeliest) : 2/5, unlikely as his wish to play in Champs Lge means a move to Chelsea or Man Utd expected.

Dimitar Berbatov (Spurs) - Likely Fee : Tottenham have placed an inflated price of around £30m on his head, in all probability around £25m should be enough to clinch the deal. Other clubs interested : Sadly the same as the Anelka case, both Utd and Chelsea covet the Bulgarian. Would he make a good addition : Unquestionably, he has shown his quality in abundance this season, great at holding ball up, awareness, good in the air, knows where the back of the net is, fantastic touch and would suit Sven's 4-4-1-1. Likelihood of his arrival : 2/5, Whoever misses out on Anelka are likely to lure Berbatov from Spurs, and do City have this amount of money to spend on a single player ?

Afonso Alves (Heerenveen) - Likely Fee : Around £10m Other clubs interested : Middlesboro, AZ Alkmaar. Would he make a good addition : I think we were spoilt by how quickly Elano adapted to England and with Geovanni also here it may help the Brazilian to settle. It is however, a big step from playing in the Dutch Eredivise to the Premier League, ask Georgios Samaras. Likelihood of his arrival : 3/5, He is reported to be in talks with Middlesboro and was on the verge of signing for AZ Alkmaar last Friday. If Sven is seriously interested, he is making his move exceptionally late. Ih the Blues do make a bid, they must surely be favourites to land him.

Frederico Chaves Guedes (Fred) (Lyon) - Likely Fee : £8m - £9m Other clubs interested : Real Betis, PSG. Would he make a good addition : The Brazilian is one of the most coveted young players around and at 24 is young enough to get even better. He has scored goals wherever he has played, again his adjustment to English lifestyle and the speed of the Premiership will be integral if he is to succeed. Likelihood of his arrival : 2/5 PSG appears to be the club he is destined to sign for in a bid to revive his international career with Brazil. PSG has been a decent place for many Brazilians to begin/continue their path to stardom.

Lukas Podolski (Bayern Munich) - Likely Fee : A loan move till the end of the season with view to a permanent deal next year. Other clubs interested : No particular strong links with any club yet, but such a young talent will no doubt attract a few buyers. VFB Stuttgart are suggested to be monitoring the situation. Would he make a good addition : Podolski has made only two starts in the Bundesliga so far this season so would need time to find his peak match fitness. That said, he does possess the goalscorers instinct. Likelihood of his arrival : 3/5 It appears a viable option, he is out of favour at Munich with Miroslav Klose and Luca Toni sharing the striking duties so a potential loan deal appears to make sense all round. It hinges on whether Podolski wants to give it till the end of the season with Munich before deciding about his future.

Djibril Cisse (Marseille) - Likely Fee : Around £6m Other clubs interested : Bolton, Blackburn, Tottenham amongst the clubs to have an alleged interest. Would he make a good addition : Never really succeeded at Liverpool and there will no doubt be question marks against him performing in the Premier League. Since returning to Marseille he has scored 10 goals in 38 starts, in the league, as he strives to become the player that Liverpool chose to spend £14m on. His progress has been hindered by some shocking leg injuries. Can he recapture his best form ? If he can, then he would enhance this City squad, but is it too much of a gamble ? Likelihood of his arrival : 4/5 Sven does seem keen in signing Cisse, as recent as today Marseille President, Pape Diouf, has said they have rejected an offer for Cisse from Manchester City. A renewed bid may be likely over the coming days. 

Peter Crouch (Liverpool) - Likely Fee : Around £8m Other clubs interested : Aston Villa, Newcastle and numerous other clubs looking for a targetman. Would he make a good addition : It is a signing that does not particularly excite me and I worry about the effect of playing a big tall forward giving the defenders an easy option of lobbing the ball 50 yards downfield and completely missing the midfield out. It has even happened at Liverpool. His touch cannot be underestimated and he does have the knack of scoring goals. However, he needs to be stronger in possession if he is to play the lone striker role and does not possess great pace. Likelihood of his arrival : 3/5 It is no secret that Sven is an admirer of the gangly forward and his time at Anfield does look like it is drawing to an end.

Other transfer targets include : Vagner Love (CSKA Moscow), Amanto Mancini (AS Roma).  

It is suspected that Iraqi international Nashat Akram, who is an attacking midfielder, is to be Sven Goran Eriksson's second signing in this January transfer window.

These claims arise from the players official website, where it is suggested that Akram has successfully passed a medical and personal negotiations have been agreed and a press conference announcing the signing is due to take place on January 10.

The 23 year-old recently finished third in the awards for Asian Player of the Year and has represented his national side 63 times hitting the back of the net on eight occasions. He seems to have the physique for the Premiership and stands relatively tall at 6'1" and has been under the watchful eye of Eriksson while on his 10-day trial with the Blues.

The fee for the player is yet to be confirmed although his contract with his club side Al-Ain in United Arab Emirates is due to expire at the end of the season.   

Sven Goran-Eriksson last week gave trial to Saudi Arabian striker Yasser Al-Qahtani. Following the trial, Qahtani, who recently won Asia's Player of the Year award, was alleged to have refused a move to Manchester due to the fact his club at home, Al Hilal, comes first.

A very interesting option to take when a top Premier League side is apparently keen to sign you and you decide to remain in the Saudi Arabian league.

There were some issues in the contract that needed further resolvement, according the man nicknamed "The Sniper".

However, according to former City goalkeeper John Burridge, who is now a TV Analyst in the Middle East, he found life very tough in England, even on the training ground.

Cheered on by his entourage with every touch, Al-Qahtani was then on the wrong end of a typically thunderous challenge from Richard Dunne, which was to have left him in a crumpled heap, leading to him being carried off with tears in his eyes.

Following a Dunne tackle it comes as a surprise if he needed to catch a plane home or if he simply landed back in the place of his birth.