Manchester City-Birmingham City Preview

Oct 30, 2009 - 6:44 PM MARK HENDRY STATS European Football Writer=

LONDON (SE) - Emmanuel Adebayor aims to maintain Manchester City's push for a Champions League place at Birmingham on Sunday after insisting he moved to Eastlands for glory and not for financial gain.

Adebayor has been branded a money grabber after forcing a 25 million pounds switch from Arsenal during the summer.

The Togo striker said: "There may be people who are jealous of what I am about and what I have achieved despite my humble background.

"People can say what they want and I will just score goals in a team that wants me to be here and in front of fans who appreciate me.

"I am happy at City and people who question my decision to come here can go away.

"To be part of City's first Premier League title, getting into the Champions League is a great challenge for me.

"I am here for the football not the money.

"My final year at Arsenal was difficult so coming here was an easy decision for me. Some fans would never forgive me after other clubs tried to sign me a year ago but what could I do?

"I scored 30 goals for Arsenal in two seasons and it was forgotten because the fans decided I was not loyal any more when Barcelona and AC Milan showed interest in me."

Adebayor hit the headlines earlier this season by running the length of the pitch to goad Arsenal supporters after scoring against his old club.

He says he is spurred on by being unpopular.

"No one likes bad things said about them but I am used to it and I use it to motivate myself," Adebayor added.

"Sometimes I think I am disliked because I show too much emotion but that will never change."

Adebayor will be recalled after missing Wednesday's 5-1 Carling Cup win over Scunthorpe. Roque Santa Cruz will drop to the bench.

Birmingham defender Gregory Vignal has leapt to the defence of manager Alex McLeish amid rumours he faces the sack.

Birmingham new owner Carson Yeung is reported to have lined up Vignal's former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier to replace McLeish.

Frenchman Vignal said: "Everybody is happy with the manager here; he is doing a good job.

"He did a good job with Rangers and Scotland as well and he will have more power now because he will have more money. For a manager that is good.

"Alex has a lot of experience, too, and he I think Birmingham can become a good Premier League club with him. There is no point to speak about these rumours.

"I'm sure Gerard would want to come back to English football.

"He loves it so much but I think he has a dream to come back to Liverpool because he won everything there but the title.

"He built everything there. He got a new training ground, brought on players like Jamie Carragher and Stevie Gerrard. So I'm sure he is looking at that but not at our club."

Birmingham will hand goalkeeper Maik Taylor his first Premier League start of the season because on-loan Joe Hart cannot play against his parent club.