TEAM NEWS

Manchester City will be without the injured quintet of Wilfried Bony, Fernandinho, Vincent Kompany, Eliaquim Mangala and Samir Nasri.

David Silva and Yaya Toure missed the FA Cup win at Norwich but are both fit to return against Everton.

Everton pair Seamus Coleman is out because of injury, while Tom Cleverley is a doubt.

Defender Ramiro Funes Mori is available despite needing 10 stitches in a head wound at the weekend.

MOTD COMMENTATOR'S NOTES

Steve Wilson: "If familiarity breeds contempt then the second leg of the Capital One Cup semi-final will be an ill-tempered affair.

"It's tough to call which of the three meetings in three weeks between Everton and Manchester City is the most important. Having established a first-leg lead, maybe the cup tie is the crucial one to Everton, but for City it must surely be this league encounter.

"Even though they seem to amount to a little less than the sum of their parts, City are still my favourites to win the league in what most people assume will be Manuel Pellegrini's last season at the club.

"If they don't win it, then I think you can assume the manager will probably lose his job regardless of Pep Guardiola's intentions."

Twitter: @SteveWilson1967 

WHAT THE MANAGERS SAY

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini: "Every game is different - we must try to beat Everton, then we think about Crystal Palace. We don't know if there will be the same players, the same performance - so much can change in 15 days.

"Everton has a style of play, they're an attacking team under Roberto. They have players in a very good moment so we must be very careful with their counter attack."

Everton manager Roberto Martinez: "The game on Wednesday is so important in the league for different reasons; they're trying to get that top spot and we're trying to get as high up as we can, and the three points are important in themselves.

"Two teams wanting to score goals will make for an open, technical game. We know what we expect, that familiarity won't play any other part."

LAWRO'S PREDICTION

The good news for Everton is that they are getting virtually everybody back fit - but City are a different proposition when Sergio Aguero is firing on all cylinders like he is at the moment.

Lawro's full predictions v comedian & actor Elis James

• Think you can do better than Lawro? Predict the score for this match and the rest of this round's Premier League fixtures in our Predictor game.

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

• Manchester City are unbeaten in five league matches against Everton (W4, D1).
• Everton are winless in the last four Premier League meetings at the Etihad Stadium (D1, L3).
• Manchester City could do the Premier League double against Everton for the second time, after 2013-14.

Manchester City

• City have the division's best home record, earning 24 points and scoring 29 goals in 10 matches.
• However, they could concede a goal in nine consecutive top-flight home matches for the first time since a run of 13 in a row from March to October 1991.
• They have won their opening Premier League home match of the year in each of the last seven seasons and are unbeaten since a 2006 defeat by Spurs.
• Manuel Pellegrini's side have only won four of their last nine league fixtures and not managed back-to-back victories since mid-October.

Everton

• Everton's only win in their last seven league matches came against Newcastle on Boxing Day (D4, L2).
• Only Manchester City and Leicester have scored more goals than Everton's 36 in the Premier League this season.
• Romelu Lukaku is the division's 15-goal joint-leading scorer this season, along with Jamie Vardy.
• Roberto Martinez's only two wins in 15 attempts as a manager against Manchester City both came in cup competition: 1-0 for Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup final in 2013, and 2-1 for Everton at Goodison Park in the League Cup semi-final first leg last week.