Beasley nears full fitness

Last updated : 22 September 2006 By Ben Collins
Sun Jihai, Nedum Onuoha and Darius Vassell are recovering from injury but will be unavailable, while summer signings Andreas Isaksson and Hatem Trabelsi are some way from contention.

"Andreas Isaksson will be somewhere between 6 and 8 weeks," said the City boss.

"With Trabelsi we're hoping he will be ok in maybe 3 weeks. We hope Vass will only be a couple of weeks away if all goes well."

One positive for Pearce is that Beasley is almost ready to be unleashed on the Premiership after the USA winger signed on-loan from PSV Eindhoven.

"He's fine," said Pearce. "He's been training with us, and has been on the bench a couple of times.

"We feel as though he's just short of a little bit of sharpness and fitness during his settling in period and with that in mind we're looking after him."

Ousmane Dabo will serve the last of his 3-game ban so Didi Hamann should remain at the centre of the City midfield and go up against new West Ham midfielder Javier Mascherano.

Meanwhile, Richard Dunne and Sylvain Distin are set to have their hands full with Mascherano's fellow Argentina international, Carlos Tevez.