Carlo Ancelotti has stressed the importance of picking up three points against Manchester City on Saturday, and has backed his side to maintain focus.

Our lunchtime kick-off comes quickly off the back of Wednesday night's 2-1 defeat in Milan, but Ancelotti will keep faith with the side that turned out at the San Siro, which is likely to mean Florent Malouda continuing at left-back.

'Zhirkov is out tomorrow, but we have the possibility to put Ferreira at left-back, we have the possibility to put in Belletti, and we can have Malouda in the same position because he had a very good performance on Wednesday,' said the Italian.

'I was surprised because he never played there in this season, he played for Lyon in some matches but a long time ago, and for me he was a surprise. I can confirm him tomorrow.

'I saw the training today and I saw the players had a good rest in these two days. We have to consider that Manchester City has the same problem because they played Wednesday night with 10 men and extra-time. Maybe they have a more difficult recovery than us, so I don't think to change a lot of players.

'We are disappointed because this is not a good result but the other things were very good. We showed a very good mentality, very good personality and very good play [and now] we want to keep four points on Manchester United. We know very well tomorrow will be a difficult game, the last game against Manchester City we lost and we have to do our best in this match because we need to win.'

Hilario is likely to step in for Petr Cech in goal, after the Czech was ruled out for between three and four weeks with a torn calf muscle. Ancelotti sees no problem.

'At first we are disappointed because Cech is a very good goalkeeper,' he conceded. 'Secondly we have confidence in Hilario, he didn't play a lot of games, but when he played he played very well, with confidence. So for this I am very calm.'

That is also the manager's feeling with regard to John Terry, who will be under scrutiny against the side that tried to sign him last summer, a side that contains Wayne Bridge who announced his unavailability for England selection on Thursday after allegations in the media about the Chelsea captain.

'I think John Terry is professional and doesn't have a problem to look forward and stay focused on the match,' Ancelotti said. 'He is doing a good performance, I don't see that his condition went down. I think he is in good condition and he is doing a good job for the team.

'I am sure tomorrow will be Man City against Chelsea, and so we have to pay attention and stay in focus on this because Man City is a very good team. They have a lot of players with strong quality and I think we have to think about this.'

Saturday also pits Ancelotti against a friend and former colleague, Roberto Mancini, who arrived at Eastlands in December.

'I am not surprised, he is a very good coach and has experience, he trained important teams in Italy, Fiorentina, Lazio, Inter, and he is my friend.

'We were team-mates in the national team in Italy in 1990 and I am happy to have an Italian manager like me,' smiled the 50-year-old, who came up against Mancini last while coach of AC Milan.

Asked about his record in opposite dugouts at the San Siro, Ancelotti admitted he wasn't so sure.

'I don't know, sometimes I remember I lost, sometimes I won, but I don't know the statistic,' he said.

Our Pre-Match Briefing has the answer; in the five seasons Mancini was at Inter (2004-8) the present City boss just edged their league encounters with four wins, one draw and three defeats, but Carlo enjoyed the bragging rights when they met in the Champions League: AC Milan were leading 3-0 in the second leg when Inter crowd disturbances caused the match to be abandoned.