The pressure continues to grow on Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini following back-to-back defeats in the Premier League and reports of a mutiny amongst the players, so a shock defeat in Poland this week could well push the Italian towards the exit door.

Speculation on Monday suggested members of the squad are unhappy with Mancini's management style and want him out although the likes of Gareth Barry and Kolo Toure subsequently came out to deny these claims.

Nevertheless, the on field row between Emmanuel Adebayor and Vincent Kompany during the 2-1 loss against lowly Wolves at Molineux on Saturday was used as further evidence of unrest in the camp and Toure did admit both the players and Mancini had their say in the dressing room.

The defender added: "We are a team and in any team there are problems. But the important thing is to try to resolve them in the dressing room and the training camp."

Having also lost 3-0 at home to Arsenal a week earlier City are now eight points behind leaders Chelsea and questions are being raised about their ability to win a Champions League place for next season - let alone their title chances.

At the end of September, Mancini's expensively assembled outfit beat the defending champions 1-0 at Eastlands but they've only won four other games in the league and they simply must improve on this kind of form if they're to earn a spot alongside Europe's elite.

Aside from top four ambitions, City are expected to win silverware sooner than later given their spending power and right now the Europa League appears to be a great opportunity for them to end the club's 35-year title drought.

The Blues are well poised to reach the knockout stages heading into Thursday night's clash against Lech Poznan and we reckon they'll be eager to make a positive statement after the recent negative headlines.

A fortnight ago Emmanuel Adebayor fired a hat-trick as City eased to a 3-1 victory over Lech at Eastlands while a comfortable 2-0 win at Red Bull Salzburg and a 1-1 draw with Juventus in their previous group games puts them on seven points, three clear of the Polish champions.

Sure, a few key players could be rested with one eye on Sunday's Premier League encounter with West Brom but Mancini can't really afford a shock defeat and will name a side strong enough to get the job done.

When these sides last met he fielded a line-up including Joe Hart, Micah Richards, Nigel De Jong, David Silva, Adam Johnson and of course Adebayor so they're clearly taking the competition seriously.

Lech have struggled domestically this season and currently sit third from bottom after losing five of their opening 10 games but they do at least come into this fixture on the back of a 4-1 triumph over Wisla Krakow.

Indeed, scoring goals haven't been a problem for Jacek Zielinski's men in Europe having incredibly drawn 3-3 away at Juventus - Artjoms Rudnevs netting a hat-trick - and also beating Salzburg 2-0 at home.

The Poles must sense a top two spot is a real possibility but they struggled to cope with City at Eastlands.

With home advantage, it might be a slightly tighter affair this time and we must pay them respect on the back of their previous Europa League results.

As City are understandably odds-on to pick up all three points we're instead heading to the 'winning margin' market, where the visitors are priced at 3.75 with Bet365 to win by one goal.

Roy Hodgson's job at Liverpool has also been under scrutiny in recent weeks but the Reds' recent revival has eased the pressure on his shoulders for the time being.

On Sunday they finally climbed out of the Premier League relegation zone - where they had embarrassingly resided for almost a month - after Maxi Rodriguez's late strike gave them a 1-0 victory at Bolton.

It's now two wins in a row for Liverpool, who also beat Blackburn 2-1 at Anfield the previous weekend, and although this doesn't make up for a string of damaging results - including defeats to Everton, Blackpool and Northampton - they are at least slowly moving in the right direction.

Performance-wise, their lack of creativity and spark was clear to see against the Trotters while Fernando Torres continued to look off the pace, apart from his late assist to Maxi.

Hodgson was realistic enough to say "it is still too early to be too optimistic" and he now faces a testing few days ahead with Thursday night's Europa League clash with Napoli followed by a huge game against Chelsea on Sunday.

The former Fulham boss has made it quite clear where Liverpool's priorities lie and it would be no surprise to see star duo Torres and Steven Gerrard to be rested against the Italian outfit - just like they were for the goalless draw at the Stadio San Paolo.

A weakened Reds side comfortably withstood spells of pressure in Naples and despite Ryan Babel spurning perhaps the best chance of the night, they were more than content to leave with a well-earned point.

As we mentioned when predicting a draw for that game, Napoli's lofty position in Serie A this season isn't something to take at face value.

Walter Mazzarri's men currently sit fifth but they lost the only game they've played against a top four side - going down 2-1 against AC Milan - while the impressive 2-0 victory over last year's runners-up Roma is the only result you could single out as a surprise.

They've also lost to Chievo while draws with Catania, Fiorentina and Bari - all in the bottom half - further illustrate why we don't think they'll pose a noteworthy threat to Liverpool.

Napoli have drawn all three of their group games so far - two of which goalless - and we just don't think they have enough to trouble a Liverpool side growing in belief.

To Napoli's credit, they did battle back from 3-0 down at Steaua Bucharest to draw 3-3, with Edinson Cavani snatching the equaliser in the eighth minute of stoppage-time, but bear in mind this was against a side that Liverpool beat 4-1 at Anfield.

Liverpool, who will take a giant step towards the knockout round with a win, have only conceded once in their three games so a victory to nil at 3.00 with bet365 is our call.

PICKS:
Manchester City to beat Lech Poznan by one goal at 3.75 at Bet365
Liverpool to beat Napoli to nil at 3.00 at Bet365