Defending league champions Manchester City will be hoping to put the disappointment of their 2-1 defeat to Liverpool behind them with a win at home to bottom club Leicester on Wednesday.
City trail leaders Chelsea by five points, with José Mourinho's men also afforded the luxury of a game in hand over their title rivals. At the other end of the spectrum, Leicester's hopes of Premier League survival are fading with every passing week, though there are still only four points separating them from safety.
Manuel Pellegrini is likely to have a full complement of players to choose from, providing there are no last-minute fitness concerns. This could mean a first start for Wilfried Bony, who has had to settle for substitute appearances since joining the club from Swansea during the January transfer window.
Likewise, Leicester boss Nigel Pearson also has no new injury worries to contend with, meaning he too should start a full-strength starting eleven. Goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, who has been missing since December due to a broken foot, is expected to make his return to first-team action sometime this month.
With 52 wins in this fixture to the Foxes' 27, as well as 28 draws, City have afar superior head-to-head record and have won the last three meetings. A first-half goal from Frank Lampard - his 175th in the Premier League - was enough to settle the reverse fixture back in December, while the visitors have not beaten City since 2003 - former Citizen Paul Dickov scoring for Leicester in a 3-0 win.
Under-fire City boss Pellegrini has attempted to focus his players' minds on the task at hand after a disappointing week which saw them all but dumped out of their two remaining competitions.
“The concern is to win the next 11 games. It’s important to trust in what we do because I think it’s the same team won the League Cup and Premier League last season, and that scored a lot of goals.
“This year we’re second in the league, and we are continuing in the Champions League.
“It’s important to improve, to be consistent for 90 minutes and not have bad moments in the game.”
Meanwhile, his counterpart Pearson is bullish about his side's prospects of victory at the Etihad, and admits that they need to take points at every available opportunity.
"A win would keep the morale high, I’m sure. Before a ball is kicked in the season, most people would look at fixtures like this as a bonus game. We can’t have too many bonus games from here on in because we don’t have enough points. All I can do is concentrate very much on ourselves. We’ve got to be at our best and us at our best will hopefully cause them some problems. It’s an important game for us. I want us to perform well again. We need to start picking up some scrappy results as well as keep playing well.”