Wilfried Bony has been ruled out of Manchester City's League Cup semi-final first leg against Everton on Wednesday night due to a calf injury.
The Ivorian was expected to play some part at Goodison Park having scored two goals in two League Cup starts already this season.
However, the former Swansea City striker is now unavailable having picked up a knock to his calf despite only making a 15-minute cameo in the dramatic 2-1 victory over Watford on Saturday.
The injury is not thought to be serious enough to keep Bony out for an extended period, but Manuel Pellegrini insists that fit-again Sergio Aguero is able to cope with a congested fixture schedule anyway.
"Bony has a kick in his calf so maybe he's not fit for tomorrow. In a few days more he should be fine to come back. Vincent Kompany and Samir Nasri are out," Pellegrini told reporters.
"We'll try to do everything we can to recover our injured players as soon as we can. With Nasri it's difficult – he needs an amount of time as he's had surgery on his muscle. We have a lot of games – fortunately we have most of the squad fit so we can make some changes to see which players start which games.
"Sergio played three games in a week which was no problem for this moment. The last injury was not a muscle injury, just a pain in his heel. He's fit and the best way for him to recover his best performance is to play games."
Pellegrini won the League Cup during his first season as Manchester City manager in 2013-14.
