City swooped to land Johnson in an £8million deal with Middlesbrough on deadline day and already the 22-year-old has made a massive impression at Eastlands. The England Under-21 star followed up his eye-catching debut at Hull by collecting man-of-the-match honours in the midweek win over Bolton. And while Johnson cannot play in Saturday's FA Cup fifth-round tie against Stoke because he featured in Boro's defeat to City earlier in the competition, Mancini cannot wait to have him back on Tuesday for the Premier League re-match with Tony Pulis' men, having paid him the highest compliment. "Johnson is a great player," he said. "If he continues like he is at the moment he could get into the national team. "I remember Ryan Giggs when he was young and the way he moved. Johnson is the same player. "If he keeps working hard he has a good chance for the future." With Johnson out and Craig Bellamy sidelined until next weekend's top-four clash with Liverpool by a nagging knee injury, Martin Petrov could be set for a recall. Shaun Wright-Phillips will also hope to be involved after spending the last couple of games on the bench. In addition, Dedryck Boyata, Stephen Ireland, Micah Richards and Nedum Onuoha could also be involved, while £22million defender Joleon Lescott is in line to make his first start for two months after a knee injury now that Vincent Kompany has been ruled out. The changes are not intended to show Mancini is following the lead of Arsene Wenger, who dismisses both domestic cup competitions compared to finishing in the top four. "We have two targets this season - the FA Cup and the top four," said Mancini. "Arsenal have a lot of games because they are also in the Champions League. "Maybe the FA Cup is more important to me than it is for Arsene Wenger." Given how close City got to reaching the Carling Cup final before they eventually succumbed to neighbours Manchester United, there is almost a desperation about the Blue camp to reach a Wembley showpiece for the first time since 1981. And, although he qualified his comment, the City boss is more keen to beat Stoke this weekend than when the pair do battle again with points at stake. "The FA Cup match against them is the most important one because it is the next one," stated Mancini. "We want to get to Wembley and to achieve this we need to win, but it would also help put us in a good mood for next week." City are aiming to reach the last eight for the third time in recent years and will start heavy favourites to overcome a Stoke outfit they defeated easily as recently as Boxing Day in what was Mancini's first game in charge. However, the Italian's knowledge extends beyond the result to the searching examination Stoke provided before Petrov opened the scoring. "I remember the game," he said. "It started off being very difficult and Shay Given made a good save after about 10 minutes, otherwise the result might have been different."
