Manchester City manager Mark Hughes is determined his team will not be the fall guys when they face Scunthorpe in the Carling Cup tomorrow.

Hughes wants to land the trophy early next year as a reward for the progress made since Sheikh Mansour and the Abu Dhabi United Group took control of the club.

So losing at home to the Championship side is not on his agenda.

Even though Kolo Toure and Martin Petrov are sidelined through injury, Hughes still expects his team to overcome lower-league opponents in their fourth-round match.

He said: "I will still field a strong side - there will not be a raft of changes. We want to progress in the competition and it is important we do so.

"We have given the competition the respect it deserves in previous rounds and will do so again. It is a game we want to win, so that will determine our attitude, I would suggest.

"Scunthorpe are a good team and we will give them the respect they deserve. It is a big game for them but it won't faze them coming to our stadium.

"They have experience in recent times of playing at Wembley and dealt with that situation. They will arrive here in the hope of causing an upset. We have got to make sure that does not happen."

City go into match on the back of a home draw against Fulham at the weekend when they frittered away a two-goal lead.

Hughes, however, is pleased overall with their defensive work.

He said: "We were disappointed to lose the lead to Fulham but only Chelsea have conceded fewer goals than us and only Chelsea have more clean sheets than us.

"I would suggest there is not that much that needs to be put right. We have seen more teams come to our ground and look to frustrate us and make sure they work exceptionally hard.

"We are a big club and we are viewed as a big scalp. That is a consequence of our outstanding home form."

Meanwhile, Hughes believes most Premier League stars are capable of recovering from swine flu in a matter of days.

Blackburn and Bolton have a number of players showing signs of the virus ahead of their Carling Cup matches.

And City defender Micah Richards was struck down while on holiday in Cyprus in the summer.

Hughes said: "What you find with Premier League clubs is that there are a lot of young, fit, energetic guys.

"If they do get it, they are only laid low for a couple of days. They soon get over it because they are fit and healthy and are not compromised too much.

"We have had experience of the illness already, with Micah going down with it, and we are quite happy with the things we have in place.

"We look at official guidelines and what is recommended in terms of any outbreak occurring."