Manchester City defender Kolo Toure is pushing for a start against Sunderland on Sunday after recovering from a knee injury.
Toure had to settle for a place on the bench in the victory over Chelsea in the club's last outing.
Sunderland go into the match on the back of a impressive 4-0 victory against Bolton but boss Roberto Mancini is looking for nothing less than a win.
He said: "I think beating Chelsea will help our confidence as we played very well. "
It is important we win this game if we want to continue our improvement.
In the last three of four games we have performed very well.
"It will be a difficult game against Sunderland. It is important we forget about Chelsea as this will be a different test. We need to show good concentration and play 100%."
However, Mancini is without Emmanuel Adebayor through suspension while Martin Petrov is injured as City look to push for a top four finish.