Manchester City-Fulham Preview

Mar 19, 2010 - 4:30 PM JAMES PIERCY STATS European Football Writer=

LONDON (SE) - Northern Ireland midfielder Chris Baird has challenged his Fulham team-mates to carry their European heroics into Sunday's Premier League home game with Manchester City.

Baird was part of the Fulham side that came back from a goal down to beat Italian giants Juventus 4-1 at Craven Cottage on Thursday and book their place in the Europa League quarter-finals.

More big reputations will be put on the line when Roberto Mancini's side travel to London this weekend.

Baird said: "I got a text from one of my mates saying 'you don't get much bigger than that' and to be fair I don't think we've had bigger than that in our careers.

"We're going to enjoy it but we'll be looking forward to the next game now.

"It's important to continue that form in the League on Sunday when we play Manchester City because that is going to be another very tough game."

Fulham welcome back midfielder Jon Greening and Danny Murphy, who were suspended for the win over Juventus.

City boss Mancini wants his side to replicate their second-half performance from last weekend's 1-1 draw at Sunderland.

The Blues were trailing 1-0 at half-time after a wretched display in the opening 45 minutes before Adam Johnson's late leveler rescued a point, which could prove vital in their bid for a top four finish.

Mancini said: "It is important to start well and I feel last week was two points lost.

"We have to continue on Sunday like we did in the second half when we had seven or eight chances to score. Maybe if we had taken them we would have won the game."

Mancini has also praised opposite number and fellow former Inter Milan manager Roy Hodgson ahead of the trip to Craven Cottage.

"Fulham played a fantastic game against Juventus because after 30 minutes they were losing, then scored four goals.

"They are a strong team with a good manager. I knew about him when he worked in Italy and he did very well at Inter. I have a lot of respect for him.

"It will be a difficult game and we will need to play 100 per cent on Sunday. They have a good team spirit but so have we. But we must improve if we want to win in the future."

City will be without suspended striker Emmanuel Adebayor and midfielder Martin Petrov, who has a knee injury while Wayne Bridge is also sidelined.

Midfielder Patrick Vieira has promised Mancini the players will do everything in their power to claim a Champions League place.

Vieira said: "We want to finish fourth as badly as anyone, but I think we've shown we can battle as well as play good football.

"We proved against Chelsea and Sunderland that we react well to going behind in games and have a great spirit within our team.

"What we need to do is make sure we score first and then push on. If we can do that at Fulham, I think we can go on and take all three points."