Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has confirmed that David Silva is back in the team after recovering from an ankle injury.
The Spaniard has missed City's last nine games, but is fit to feature in this weekend's Premier League match against Southampton.
"It is very important," Pellegrini told reporters. "David is a very important player the same as Kun (Sergio Aguero). David has a different way of playing. But as I said one of the merits of the squad was to play so many games without so many players. I hope both of them can recover their great performance [of earlier this season]."
City have lost their last two games in all competitions.