MANCHESTER City striker Ched Evans has vowed to shoot down West Ham United on Sunday.

The Wales Under-21 forward is likely to be handed a first team start after Valeri Bojinov suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon.

The Bulgarian was injured during the warm-up before Sunday's 4-2 defeat at Aston Villa, handing the 19-year-old an unexpected first Premier League start.

Now, with Bojinov, Benjani and Darius Vassell all sidelined, Rolando Bianchi out-of-favour and £19million Brazilian Jo away on Olympic duty, Evans is set to keep his place for the Hammers' visit to Eastlands.

“On Sunday against Villa I was told three minu tes prior to kick-off that I was playing, but I was prepared,” the teenager, who scored 10 goals in 28 games on loan at Championship side Norwich City last season , told mcfc.co.uk “You have to be, even in the warm-up, for an emergency – and that's what happened.

“But, working with Mark Hughes, I have a lot of confidence and that follows on from having a good loan spell at Norwich last season.

“I have been doing well during training and all that has been building up to playing in the Premier League for Manchester City.”

Evans is an international team-mate of West Ham youngster Jack Collison and will play in Wales' UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifier against Romania on Wednesday evening.

And he now plans to cement his place in another Welshman's first team squad at City.

“You need regular first team football as a player and I am beginning to get that, having also had a few chances in the UEFA Cup [qualifying] games,” he added.

Midfielder Collison will miss both matches with a medial knee ligament injury, but is expected to return to action within a month.

Meanwhile, City have reportedly taken out a £30million loan – secured against future TV revenue payments – to spend on new players before the closure of the summer transfer window.

Owner Dr Thaksin Shinawatra is facing corruption charges and has had his assets frozen in his homeland of Thailand, leaving the club to look elsewhere for funds to buy a new left-back, midfielder and a striker.