Hughes on the offensive

With four straight wins under their belt Hughes believes he can afford to be bullish ahead of the derby against Manchester United - even without striker Emmanuel Adebayor, who is suspended.

Hughes said: "A number of clubs, like ours, spend a lot of money and their ambition is to win the Premier League, whether it is this year or the next. Whether we are strong enough to make a challenge for the Premier League title after only a couple of windows in the transfer market is open to debate. We will give it our best shot."

He added: "United are a huge challenge and everyone should be excited about going to a place like Old Trafford. It is a huge arena and a test when you go there.

"It is a derby that has captured everyone's imagination. The interest surrounding the game is greater than it has been for many years. We are going to enjoy it.

"It is about making sure we give a good account of ourselves. We played exceptionally well last week and need to hit the same levels again. We feel we have the talent to exploit situations."

City go into the match on the back of a 4-2 victory against Arsenal and Hughes claims United are not the force they were following the departures of Carlos Tevez - to Eastlands - and perhaps more importantly Cristiano Ronaldo.

"They have lost two significant players from last year and any team will be affected by that," said Hughes. "You cannot afford to lose players of that standard and not replace them.

"I have watched a number of their games and don't think they are playing as well as they did last season.

"United's display against Tottenham (3-1 victory) was their stand-out performance. Prior to that they have been below par."