Fernandinho among 5 to miss Manchester City's visit of Everton

Fernandinho, one of Manchester City's finest performers this term, will be forced to sit out Wednesday's visit of Everton, along with Wilfried Bony, Eliaquim Mangala, Vincent Kompany, and Samir Nasri.

Manager Manuel Pellegrini did share some brighter news: Yaya Toure and David Silva enter the fold after the pair missed the 3-0 FA Cup third-round win at Norwich City on Saturday.

"Silva is 100 percent fit - maybe it's a risk for him to play Wednesday to Saturday," Pellegrini said at the pre-match media conference.

While Kompany and Nasri have been long-term absentees for the Eastlands outfit, the returns of the other three are not too far off.

"Mangala tried to work yesterday with normality but he couldn't," Pellegrini said. "He had some pain still in his muscle - for him, it's best to wait a bit more. It's the same for Fernandinho and Bony. For Kompany and Nasri, it's longer."

City and Everton are to become very familiar. The duo battled it out last week in the first leg of the League Cup semifinal and they meet on Premier League duty this Wednesday, before they become sick of each other in the second leg on Jan. 27.