MANCHESTER: Manager Roberto Mancini insists he is more confident than ever that Manchester City can finish fourth in the Premier League this season. The Italian watched his men go down 2-1 at Hull last Saturday to equal the number of league defeats suffered this season by his predecessor Mark Hughes.

But with rivals Tottenham and Aston Villa sharing the points from their weekend clash at White Hart Lane, City remain three points off Liverpool in fourth with two games in hand on the teams around them going into the home clash against Bolton tomorrow (3.45am) and Mancini believes his side have what it takes to break up the established "Big Four".

"I'm even more confident. Because in the first three or four games we have played very well after we've lost players to injury," said Mancini. "I'm confident when I recover all the players we can win this week at home and then win away at Stoke (at the weekend).

"We must remember we have two games in hand and if we win them we go fourth. We have a good chance if we win this match against Bolton. When we recover all our players I don't think it's a problem."

Despite City's vast wealth, Mancini spent modestly in the January transfer window, signing veteran midfielder Patrick Vieira on loan from Inter Milan and then adding young winger Adam Johnson from Middlesbrough on deadline day.

However, he inherited a large and talented squad following Hughes' spending spree last summer, and that has meant he has received little sympathy while continually referring to the injury problems he has encountered since taking over. That does not mean Mancini is about to change his tune.

"I think this is a good squad but we have had more players injured and this is difficult. In midfield, we have had only three midfielders, Gareth Barry, Nigel de Jong and Stephen Ireland, and it's impossible that you can play a season with only three midfielders."

The midfield engine room has been a particular problem for City of late, with Gareth Barry under performing. Vieira made his debut in the secondhalf of the Hull defeat, but despite impressing, he arrived too late to turn the result around.

The firsthalf was arguably City's worst display under Mancini, and the usually cool Italian admitted he had let his players know about it at halftime.