Manuel Pellegrini confirmed that the Spanish playmaker is available for selection ahead of the trip to Goodison Park on Saturday and that while not match fit, Matija Nastasic is making good progress in his recovery from a knee injury.
“The only player that we have injured is Jesus Navas, all the other players in the squad are fit,” the Chilean revealed.
“David [Silva] is a very important player, so for him to be in the squad list is very important for us.
“Nastasic is working with the squad, he’s not able in this moment to play, but he’s not injured anymore.”
The Blues beat Everton 3-1 at the Etihad in October last year, but have not done the double over the Toffees since the 1980/81 season - winning just once at Goodison in the past 22 years.
However, Pellegrini refused to be put off by any talk of previous meetings in Liverpool.
“The past is the past. This is the present and we have we have between now and tomorrow before we play at Goodison Park and I hope that we can win it,” he said.
“I think that Everton in any stage of the season will be always a very difficult team because they play very well and Roberto is doing a very good job there. He’s playing for Champions League, he’s playing for Europa League and so we are sure that we are going to have a very tough game.”
With City now leading the race for the Premier League, all eyes will be on the Blues as they fight for their second title in three years.
But the manager is urging his players to keep calm and is sticking firmly to his belief in taking it one game at a time.
“I think in football the only way is to think about your next game. All the other things, the speculation about the score in other games, for me is impossible to know,” he declared.
“When we lost against Liverpool, everyone was saying that the title was finished and that the title was for Liverpool. Maybe it can be for Liverpool also, but you must play beforehand and then you can see what you can do.
“The only important thing for us is to think about what we can do and the only thing we can do is to try and win our games and to have that wining mentality.
“Of course when you just depend on what you can so it is better for all the players. At this moment the motivation is very high, but now it’s important that the performance must also be high.
“I think that the most important thing that we must do in these next three games is to try and play the same way we have the whole season and the same way we work every day. To try to beat Everton with our style of football and not try to change because the pressure is high. That’s where you can see if we are a big team.”
