Fernandinho is confident Manchester City can cover the absence of Yaya Toure.

Toure is away with the Ivory Coast for their Africa Cup of Nations campaign.

Fernandinho says he and Fernando are intent on filling the hole left by the big Ivorian.

"He's a great player, very important to this team - but we have to play without him," he said. "And we will need to improve if we want to win the games while he is away. I think we've got enough midfielders to manage without him, we'll all try to do our best.

"We now have Arsenal and Chelsea coming up but this is the Premier League - you have to play against tough teams and you cannot choose when.

"But we're a big team too. If you want to fight for the title, you have to play to win these games."