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No excuses warns Platt
Manchester City's players have been ordered not to look for excuses when Yaya Toure departs for the African Cup of Nations.
The influential midfielder will join up with the Ivory Coast squad in Paris on Saturday while his City team-mates prepare to take on on Watford in the FA Cup third round at the Etihad Stadium. Ivory Coast are quoted the 1.33 favourites in the Group D group betting.
The Hornets will be backed by a 7,000 strong following and Roberto Mancini will be forced to put out a strong team and hope there are no nasty surprises. City can be backed at 1.16, the draw is offer at 7.00 and Watford are quoted 15.00 to spring a surprise in the 90 minutes market.
Toure's departure, along with his brother, Kolo, will leave a massive hole in the City engine room at a crucial stage in the campaign, as they also attempt to claw back the seven-point gap to Premier League leaders Manchester United.
Mancini has hinted he might be forced to enter the transfer market this month in a bid to beef up his options, with the potential for Toure to be away in South Africa for the next six weeks should the Elephants reach the final again.
City's assistant boss, David Platt, however, believes the loss of the former Barcelona man should not be overplayed by anybody at the club.
Platt insists: "It is irrelevant whether Yaya disappears or not. The challenge is to keep winning football matches. We have a squad of players that we will have to choose 11 from.
"Whichever side we put on the park we would expect to go and take the points. We have just got to continue winning football matches."