Manchester City boss Sven Goran Eriksson has made it clear to Rolando Bianchi he is a required player.

"After this break we have difficult games, and we have the Carling Cup at the end of the month, which is very important for us," he said.

"Rolando has been a little bit unlucky he started very well and maybe found it a little bit difficult to settle in at first. Then he got injured, came back, and was injured again.

"I've spoken many times to him in my office, and if there are any difficulties for him we are here to try and help.

"We don't put pressure on him, we are happy to see him out there with the rest of the boys training and then it's up to me to decide who's going to play.

"He's a goalscorer and came from a great season with Reggina. He scored 18 goals for a team that's not a top team, and that was a fantastic achievement. Hopefully he will score a lot of goals for us, and don't forget that we have a long season."