Albion boss turns screw on Mancini

Roberto Di Matteo today cranked up the pressure on Roberto Mancini by insisting under-fire Manchester City must beat Albion.

Di Matteo laughed off suggestions that the sixth-placed Baggies are favourites to beat big-spending City after their three successive defeats ahead of tomorrow's match.

And the Hawthorns head coach turned up the heat on his fellow Italian by insisting his expensively-assembled squad have to win for the sake of their title challenge after defeats to Arsenal and Wolves in the league and Lech Poznan in the Europa League.

"City have to win and we would like to win, that's the situation," said Di Matteo.

"They are the favourites and we would just like to continue playing the way we've been playing, be competitive and try to do our best in every game.

"That's our ambition.

"We've been playing with confidence for a while now."

Mancini has seen an increase in the pressure on him after three straight defeats and stories of dressing-room unrest at Eastlands, but Di Matteo insists his former international team mate is not alone in feeling the weight of expectation.

"You'll have to ask Mancini whether he is capable of handling the pressure but you look at his CV and he is one of the best managers around," said the Baggies boss.

"Every club has its level of expectation. They are expecting as much from him as any chairman expects from their manager.

"If I was bottom of the table you can imagine what kind of pressure I'd be under."

Albion could welcome back Peter Odemwingie after the striker returned to training after knee problem but Gonzalo Jara is suspended, Jonas Olsson (Achilles) is missing and James Morrison (knee) remains touch and go for tomorrow.

Steven Reid is favourite to replace Jara at right-back providing he shakes off a slight Achilles problem.

City will make a late decision on captain Carlos Tevez's thigh injury and Baggies winger Jerome Thomas believes the striker is crucial to his team.

"Not just because of the money, but because of the buys they've made, they are a scalp," said Thomas.

"They've got some world class players there but we have seen that they don't seem to be the same team without Tevez playing and he has been great for them this season.

"They will need to get him back as soon as possible."