Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini says Emmanuel Adebayor could start against former club Arsenal on Sunday following his Europa League hat-trick. The striker scored the first European hat-trick by a City player in a 3-1 win over Lech Poznan on Thursday. "It is possible he could play against Arsenal," said Mancini. "For a striker it is important to play well and his performance was excellent. But it is very important for them to score goals as well." Adebayor had yet to score this season, prior to Thursday's game at Eastlands, with seven-goal top-scorer Carlos Tevez taking most of the plaudits. But with Tevez rested, Adebayor stepped into the limelight with a superb display of finishing to put the Polish champions to the sword and send City top of Europa League Group A by three points. Tevez is certain to return for Sunday's match against Arsenal at Eastlands and Mancini believes that he can accommodate both players in his starting line-up. "It is not a problem," said Mancini. "They played together against Blackpool. It is normal for my teams to play with two strikers. That is what I usually like to do." Adebayor scored his first after 12 minutes, collecting a pass from Patrick Vieira before turning his marker and finishing neatly from the edge of the area. His second was a 24th-minute header from a David Silva cross, with the Spaniard also providing the assist for his third - a close-range side-foot finish in the second half. While Adebayor took the headlines, Silva played an excellent supporting role in what was a strong performance by City, which only dipped slightly in a 20-minute spell after half-time, during which Lech scored their goal through Joel Tshibamba. "For David Silva it is easy to play football," stated Mancini. "Everything is easy for him. "As a team, I thought we played very well in the first half - we scored two goals and did some good things - but we were ordinary in the first 20 minutes of the second. For a little while I was a bit afraid because I thought Lech could cause some problems, but the third goal finished the game." Lech manager Jacek Zielinski was not too downhearted to lose a game he feels will be the toughest they will face in the group. "Manchester City played extremely well," he admitted. "It was a good lesson for us. We had some plans but the reality turned out to be somewhat different." Credit: BBC