Nov 5, 2009 - 12:29 PM
0 shoutsGEOFF McALLISTER STATS European Football Writer=
LONDON (SE) - Defender Clarke Carlisle says cut-price Burnley will not be scared of Manchester City's multi-million pounds line-up when they travel to Eastlands on Saturday.
Burnley possess the worst away record in the Premier League and have yet to glean a point outside their Turf Moor citadel.
But expensively-assembled City have not been at their best in recent weeks and have drawn their last four matches without ever looking like a side capable of breaking into the league's top four.
Carlisle said: "We said to ourselves this week not to be afraid. Let us show them what we can do.
"This is why we all want to play in the Premier League. It gives you the chance to play against the best players and play in the best stadiums.
"But we will not be overawed just because City have got players like Adebayor and, maybe, Robinho and loads of others.
"This is our chance to go there and show just how good we can be, to test ourselves and prove that we can cope at this level."
Owen Coyle almost broke the Burnley bank with a summer spending spree that totalled 6.5 million pounds including a club record fee of three million pounds for Steven Fletcher of Hibernian.
This pales against the huge outlay by City manager Mark Hughes in the summer when he spent 90 million pounds on newcomers, not least 22 million pounds on Joleon Lescott who will be marking Fletcher.
Another large fee was spent on Emmanuel Adebayor who is likely to return to the starting line-up after recovering from back spasms.
City should also have Kolo Toure available after an ankle injury for a match they would expect to win.
City assistant manager Mark Bowen said: "It has been difficult for Emmanuel because he has not had the chance to get a run of games under his belt.
"He has had a lot of niggling injuries and he has also been suspended or away playing in international matches. This might be the opportunity for him to kick-start his season."
Adebayor's absence gave Paraguay striker Roque Santa Cruz the chance to stake a claim for a first-team place.
But although Santa Cruz was outstanding in the Carling Cup win over Scunthorpe, he was far less impressive in the goalless draw with Birmingham.
Bowen said: "We are not going to be critical of him because he was playing his first matches for five or six months but we are convinced he will prove himself.
"Overall, we are fourth in the table and at this stage of the season we are where we wanted to be. There is a long way to go and there is a feeling that this season it is going to be a lot more open than before.
"We had a long chat after the Birmingham game and decided there was nothing seriously wrong. We just had one of those days when several players were not 100 per cent."
