Aston Villa midfielder Stiliyan Petrov is looking to pile more away-day misery on to Manchester City in the Premier League clash at Villa Park.Sven-Goran Eriksson's side have won all nine of their home league games although they were beaten at Eastlands by Tottenham in the mid-week Carling Cup clash.

But on their travels they have chalked up just one victory - a stark contrast to Villa who have collected 10 points from their last four away matches with Birmingham, Middlesbrough, Blackburn and Sunderland.

Petrov, who is hoping to have overcome a hamstring injury in time to face Eriksson's side on Saturday, said: "Manchester City are one of those teams like ourselves aiming for Europe this season.

"Sven-Goran Eriksson has done an excellent job at City and the new bunch of people he brought in during the summer have quickly gelled as a team.

"But it is important to beat our rivals if we are going to challenge for a UEFA Cup spot and we want to get back on the winning trail at home after a couple of losses there.

"City's home results have been excellent this season but on the road they have appeared to struggle and we hope that will again be the case on Saturday."

Petrov has returned to training after missing the games with Portsmouth and Sunderland with the injury suffered in the first half against Arsenal.

He said: "It was good to get back out with the lads and we will see where I am at after a full week's training."

Petrov's setback was ill-timed with the Bulgarian international starting to shown signs he was back to his best.

Villa manager Martin O'Neill said: "I think the game against Birmingham was a big game for him. I know what he is capable of doing but if he is not showing it to our crowd, then it doesn't matter.

"You can't keep these things hidden under a bushel. You have got to go and perform and I thought his performance against Birmingham was him getting back to his best.

"He had kept that going and his confidence was growing before the injury. I had been pleased with him because he had a bit more confidence about his game and he was feeling happy and looking forward to playing."

If Petrov is fit, he will be challenging Craig Gardner, fortunate not to be sent off at Sunderland after a high challenge on Dwight Yorke, for a place against City.

Defender Curtis Davies is expected to have recovered sufficiently from the broken nose suffered in training ahead of the Sunderland game.

Villa will be aiming to improve on a record of four home defeats during the first half of the campaign although three of those were against Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal.

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