Raheem Sterling will hope to justify the fuss as Manchester City begin their Premier League campaign at West Brom tonight.

The England international will be the chief focus of attention at The Hawthorns following his acrimonious £49 million move to City from Liverpool over the summer.

Much of the headlines surrounding the 20-year-old in recent months have been negative and he will want to make a quick start in City colours to turn discussion back to his football.

Manager Manuel Pellegrini is confident he can do that and has been pleased with how quickly the player has fitted in during pre-season.

Pellegrini said: “He has settled in very well.

“He wants to come here, he wants to have new challenges. I don’t think he deserves criticism about that.

“He is working very well and it is easy for good players to settle in a good team.

“I think we are going to have a very successful player this year.”

Sterling is likely to be thrown straight into the action with Pellegrini having suggested that he may ease his four Copa America players, including star striker Sergio Aguero, back into action because of their summer exertions.

Pellegrini certainly adopted such an approach with Aguero after his injury-hit World Cup campaign last year, starting him on the bench for the first two games.

It proved to be a sensible decision with Aguero going on to score 32 goals during a prolific season.