Mark Hughes has stressed the need for defensive solidity as City look to re-establish themselves in the top four.

In a season when every side in the Premier League is finding it difficult to keep the back door closed, the manager has stressed the need for his all of him men to step up their defensive contribution to what has been a fast start to the campaign.

Only two sides - Chelsea and Villa – have allowed fewer goals than City but even so the demanding Blues boss wants to see an improvement.

At the other end of the pitch, City’s vast array of attacking talent has managed to find the net at least once in the every league and cup so far this season and the Blues dismissed Scunthorpe in midweek with a five-goal salvo.

However, the Championship side managed one of their own in that game; stretching to eight the number of contests since a clean sheet.

Hughes would like to see an immediate return to the mean days of the first month of the campaign when his men didn’t conceded a goal in the opening four fixtures and he poured cold water on the theory that his side has adopted a ‘we’ll score more than you’ attitude.

“Clean sheets matter to me and if you as the guys at the back and Shay Given then I can assure everyone it matters to them greatly,” he stressed.

“We have had our lapses at times and it is a collective thing. We do not just highlight the players at the back. We have to defend as a team.

We have to get better at recognising when situations are developing and then nipping them in the bud.

...Hughes on defending

“We are a new side in terms of games played and personnel and it takes time but in terms of clean sheets this season we have had our share are not doing any worse than most sides in the Premier League.”

Hughes will not get any argument from his players on the subject of tightening up at the back as the season progresses, a point stressed by recent signing Joleon Lescott who has ambled forward to score two goals in his last two outings.

“Everyone in the back four is relatively new to the club and at the moment we are not doing what we are there to do, keep clean sheets, and we must start doing our jobs,” he concluded.

There could be changes at the back again tomorrow at Birmingham with skipper Kolo Toure and England left back Wayne Bridge pushing for recalls after missing the romp over Scunthorpe.