Jovetic ruled out, Dzeko and Kolarov return
Manchester City vs Everton
Date: 17.30pm, Saturday 6th December 2014
Venue: The Etihad Stadium, Manchester
Referee: Andre Marriner Assistants: M Mullarkey, S Child Fourth Official: M Clattenburg
Odds: Manchester City 8/15, Draw 19/5, Everton 6/1
Tickets: Available from tickets.mcfc.co.uk
TV: Sky Sports 1
Manchester City
Manager: Manuel Pellegrini
Squad (from): Caballero, Hart, Wright, Boyata, Clichy, Demichelis, Kolarov, Mangala, Sagna, Zabaleta, Fernandinho, Fernando, Lampard, Milner, Nasri, Navas, Sinclair, Toure, Aguero, Dzeko, Pozo.
Injured: Kompany, Silva, Nastasic, Jovetic
Doubtful: Toure
Suspended: None
Form guide: WWWDWL
Everton
Manager: Roberto Martinez
Squad (from): Howard, Joel, Stanek, Baines, Browning, Coleman, Distin, Garbutt, Hibbert, Jagielka, Atsu, Barkley, Barry, Besic, Gibson, Junior, McGeady, Osman, Oviedo, Pienaar, Eto'o, Hope, Kone, Long, Lukaku, McAleny, Mirallas, Naismith.
Injured: Stones, McCarthy
Doubtful: Gibson, Naismith
Suspended: None
Form guide: DLWDDW
Stevan Jovetic has picked up a knock and is unavailable for selection, joining Vincent Kompany and David Silva on the sidelines. Yaya Toure is included in the squad, despite not having trained today (Friday). On a more positive note, Edin Dzeko and Aleksandar Kolarov are both available again following injury. Eliaquim Mangala returns to the squad having served a one match suspension against Sunderland, and is expected to replace Dedryck Boyata in the centre of City's defence.
Manager Manuel Pellegrini has praised his side, who have now recorded four successive victories against Swansea, Bayern Munich, Southampton and Sunderland.
"I think we are returning to our normal performance. That is very important for the team.
"We are not thinking about the six points Chelsea are in front. We are thinking about trying to continue with the performance we did last week to add the most amount of points in the first round.
"We will see the first of January, what is the distance is between Chelsea and our team, but the only way is to continue winning.
"I always expect that our team can improve in the way we play. As a manager, you must always be thinking to improve in all senses, in defending, in possession, in attacking, in a lot of things. It is very important to continue week by week. I hope we will continue scoring and to defend better."
City's last home game against Everton ended in a 3-1 win, with Alvaro Negredo and . Overall City have won 65 of the 174 games played against Everton, with 43 draws and 66 defeats.
Prediction: Manchester City 2 Everton 1