Yaya Toure is confident Manchester City can handle his absence for Ivory Coast's African Nations Cup campaign.

Toure is sure the squad he will leave behind can keep up City's pursuit of glory on four fronts.

He said: "I have total confidence in my friends here. We have Nigel de Jong, James Milner, Samir Nasri and Gareth Barry can all play that position and do a fantastic job.

"At the moment we have players like Barry who are doing more work than a young boy in that position. It's unbelievable.

"We have Milner who is always running. Maybe Nasri can play in there.

"It will be hard, we play Liverpool twice in the cup and play United as well. I hope my friends will do well because now we have a good chance."