Manchester City will have Yaya Toure and brother Kolo available for two massive January games.

The Guardian says City have minimised the damage of the African Nations Cup by persuading Ivory Coast not to enforce a Fifa rule that players can be called up two weeks before the competition.

The same provisional agreement is in place for his brother, Kolo, and means they can be involved against United on 8 January followed by the home leg of the Liverpool match three days later.

City's case was helped by Roberto Mancini's links with François Zahoui, the Ivory Coast manager, who spent two seasons in Italy with Ascoli in the 1980s.