Hughes to rush return of striker Bojinov

Mark Hughes is preparing to take a leap into the unknown with the striker Valeri Bojinov as he awaits news on the damage to Craig Bellamy's knee.

The Manchester City manager is due to receive the results of scans on the injury Bellamy suffered at West Ham on Sunday, and is crossing his fingers the results are not bad.

However, Hughes already knows Bellamy (below) will miss tonight's encounter with Champions League-chasing Aston Villa, along with record signing Robinho, who has suffered a recurrence of an ankle injury. And that is likely to mean a far greater involvement for Bojinov, who has endured 20 months of injury hell since his £6m arrival from Fiorentina.

"At the moment, Valeri is still an unknown quantity for everybody," said Hughes. "He was an outstanding teenager and people paid a lot of money for him because they recognised the ability he had. Unfortunately, his career has hit the buffers because of injuries.

"We are delighted that he is back but we can't place too much pressure on him. We don't know if he can play his natural game in the Premier League because he has never completed a game here." Hughes may find he does not have too much choice about whether to plunge Bojinov in at the deep end.

The Welshman's only other strikers are Darius Vassell and Felipe Caicedo, neither of whom has looked particularly impressive this season.

Certainly, if Bojinov could recapture the form which made him the youngest continental player to move to Serie A, when he left his native Bulgaria for Lecce before his 16th birthday, he would be Hughes' best option by far.

But the 23-year-old is still carrying a bit of excess weight and after a horror run, which has included surgery on a cruciate knee ligament injury, followed by a ruptured Achilles tendon, Hughes may be tempted to give Bojinov a decent run off the bench.

"I had him in my starting line-up for the first game of the season, that is how highly I rate him," revealed Hughes. "Unfortunately, he didn't even make the kick-off because of the injury.

"Now it is just whether he can come back and make a real impression for us. We all hope it happens because everybody here thinks the world of him.

"Providing he stays clear of the injuries that have compromised him so much, Valeri has a real opportunity to establish himself as a top Premier League player."

While the absence of Bellamy and Robinho leave Hughes troubled up front, the good news is Micah Richards may recover from a hamstring injury in time to face Villa, who have suddenly started to wobble.

However, midfielder Ashley Young is backing Martin O'Neill's side to put their recent mini-slump behind them as they resume their bid for a Champions League spot.

Villa were riding on the crest of a wave a fortnight ago as they chased glory on three fronts but have now gone five matches without a win. They crashed out of the FA Cup and Uefa Cup to Everton and CSKA Moscow respectively, and saw a 13-game unbeaten league run ended at home by Chelsea. Then on Sunday, Villa surrendered a two-goal lead against Stoke and missed out on the chance to move eight points clear of fifth-placed Arsenal.

But Young believes the self-belief of O'Neill's squad will enable them to get back on track sooner rather than later.

The former Watford player said: "Everybody in the squad has got a winning mentality. It's not going to change now and we will not take a step back. We will always be stepping forward.

"We go into every game thinking we are going to win – whether it is a team at the top or a team at the bottom. It doesn't really matter.

"The belief has always been there since I came here. This season we set our stall out to finish higher than last season and at the minute we are on course to do that.

"We have the character to get back to winning ways. I've got every hope and belief that we are going to bounce back. I am confident of that."