Manchester City duo Vedran Corluka and Valeri Bojinov are unlikely to feature against West Ham on Saturday, despite both receiving work permits yesterday.

Although neither player met the strict criteria required for the permits, City manager Sven-Goran Eriksson made a personal appearance at the pair's appeal hearing in Sheffield and was rewarded by confirmation they will be able to take up their contracts.

In theory, both could feature in Saturday's Premier League opener against West Ham at Upton Park.

However, neither Bulgarian striker Bojinov or Croatian defender Corluka has played a pre-season match so far, which is sure to figure in Eriksson's thoughts.

And there is an added complication in Corluka's case in that he was forced to board a flight back to Zagreb in order to get an official passport stamp allowing him to work in the UK.

It means Corluka may not even be able to feature in City's final training session before they head to London, making it somewhat unlikely he would be involved.