Roberto Mancini wants Manchester United to progress in the Europa League so that they have no physical or mental edge over Manchester City as the Premier League title run-in enters its final 10 games. The Italian has four key players currently unavailable or in doubt for Thursday's tie with Sporting Lisbon due to injury, including Gareth Barry who is struggling with a back problem.

City hope to overturn a 1-0 deficit from the last-16 first leg at the Etihad Stadium as United also try to progress, against Athletic Bilbao, who lead 3-2. With United leading the championship by a point Mancini is conscious that if City continue in Europe and United are knocked out Sir Alex Ferguson's men would be less drained.

Asked if this is the case the manager said: "Probably – so we hope Manchester United will win tomorrow. We're here for the Europa League and we want to go to the next stage. We'll try to [juggle the competitions]. We have three or four players injured and that's the biggest problem at the moment. But football can change in a week or 10 days and for that reason we'll try to win tomorrow."

Despite defeat to Swansea City on Sunday following that loss to Lisbon on the preceding Thursday Mancini is still intent on winning both competitions, with Carlos Tevez likely to feature in next Wednesday's crucial home league encounter with Chelsea after a near six-month absence from the first team.

"We'll see in the next week. It depends on Carlo. If Carlo is OK then probably. But it depends on a lot of things," Mancini said. "We are positive. We think we will win the Premier League, we will win the Europa League. We have a team to win both competitions. Always we'll play with the best team. When we change four or five players because we play again after three days, we play our best team. We think we have 20 good players. When we change we want to put the best team on the pitch.

"We can't cry because we're one point behind Manchester United. We have 10 games remaining and it's in our hands. We can change it if we want. We have pressure because we want to win the title, because we want to make history with the club. We were very disappointed for our supporters after Swansea because I saw on the TV, one of our supporters crying. Also for this guy, and all the supporters, we want to change things. We probably didn't deserve to lose both games but we need to play better. Sometimes you are unlucky in these games that you lose."

Of Vincent Kompany, who has a calf problem, Mancini added: "We are working on him, but I don't know when he can play. I hope Vinny will be fit for tomorrow, but if we don't want to take any risks, then maybe it will be Stoke [on 24 March]. If he's fit for Stoke, I'll be very happy."

Joleon Lescott has a groin niggle but has trained with the squad and Mancini said: "We hope maybe for tomorrow he can come on the bench. But I'm sure he will be 100% for Chelsea. [Pablo] Zabaleta, also for Chelsea. Gareth yesterday was ill but he has a problem for 20 days – the problem is his back. He can't run well. Probably he needs three days' rest. He went away with the national team during the international break when he needed to rest. Also for the friendly games, they go every time when sometimes they need to rest. With these players, it is impossible to play a game every three days for 10 months."

Sporting are fourth in the Portuguese championship and 12 points behind Porto whom City eliminated in the previous round. Mancini said: "They play good football, have good ball possession and they defend very well. But if we want to win, we need to be at our best. They have the advantage because they start at 1-0. It will be hard, but we want to change the result."

Manchester City (4-3-3, probable): Hart; Richards, K Touré, Savic, Clichy; De Jong, Agüero, Milner; Nasri, Silva, Dzeko

Sporting Lisbon (4-3-3, probable): Patrício; Evaldo, Xandão, Polga, Insúa; Carriço, Fernández, Schaars; Izmailov, Van Wolfswinkel, Carrillo

TV: Five, 8pm