Joleon Lescott returns to his home city on Sunday intent on being the perfect diplomat.

The Birmingham-born defender has had to learn to be careful with his words following the acrimony surrounding his £24million move from Everton to Manchester City.

He was accused of having a bad attitude and dropped by Everton boss David Moyes before then having to prove himself in a club intent on cracking the top four.

If that was not enough, at St Andrews he will be a boyhood Aston Villa fan facing Birmingham.

But the diplomatic England defender insists he wants Birmingham to progress and succeed in the top flight.

Lescott said: "It is extra special for me going back to my home town. I'd love to win there, especially as I grew up an Aston Villa fan.

"But now, as I have got older, you realise that it is great for a city like Birmingham to have two Premier League teams in it.

"Maybe my old Villa mates might disagree, but I wish Birmingham all the best, but not against us.

"There is a great rivalry between the two clubs, just like in Manchester. The Birmingham derby is something special, the city comes to a standstill.

"I have had plenty of family and friends wishing me luck, they are all Villa fans.

"But I can really only concentrate on Manchester City and what we need, that's the same focus it would be against anyone."

He added: "Birmingham look like they are going to have some money to spend soon with new owners, and that would only increase the rivalry with Villa and obviously help them compete.

"So good luck to them. I know there will be a bit of banter from the Birmingham fans, what with me being a Villa fan and having played for Wolves.

"But it will be lighthearted, I'm sure. I thrive on all that and I have scored a few goals in my time at Birmingham, so let's hope I can do it again."

Lescott's early form at Eastlands has come in for criticism, but he added: "I feel I am settling into City's defence with every passing game.

"The longer you play alongside people the better and easier it gets.

"We haven't kept a clean sheet for a number of games now, so that is the first objective and we are determined to achieve that.

"Everyone in the back four is relatively new to the club, maybe it's because of that. At the moment we are not doing what we are there to do, keep clean sheets, and we must start doing our jobs.

"There will always be pressure on us. We have spent a lot of money on lots of players and the expectation from fans and critics alike is that we should win every game.

"We want to do that but we know that extra pressure is always there.

"When a club spends what we have spent, then everyone expects you to win all the time. It's never as easy as that, and it takes time but we will get it together.

"The club has shown a lot of intent to get me here, now I need to repay them."

Manchester City expect to have Kolo Toure, Martin Petrov, Wayne Bridge, Craig Bellamy and Emmanuel Adebayor back at St Andrews.

They were either rested or suffering minor injuries for the Carling Cup win over Scunthorpe in midweek but boss Mark Hughes will have virtually a full squad to chose from.