MANCHESTER -- Yaya Toure and Wilfried Bony will miss Manchester City's match at Stoke on Wednesday after manager Manuel Pellegrini said it is "impossible" for his African Nations Cup finalists to play at the Britannia Stadium.
City vice-captain Toure and new signing Bony will represent Ivory Coast in Sunday's final against Ghana in Equatorial Guinea and Pellegrini has ruled out using either of them 72 hours later in England.
It means 25 million-pound striker Bony's debut will be delayed until Newcastle visit the Etihad Stadium on Feb. 21, while Toure will have missed six games by the time he appears again.
Pellegrini said in a news conference: "We don't need both of them to come back so quickly because it is impossible for them to play on Wednesday. After that we have 10 days without a game so they have time to come back."
City have a fully fit squad for Saturday's home game against Hull now that France internationals Samir Nasri and Eliaquim Mangala have returned to fitness.
Midfielder Nasri missed three games with a calf strain while defender Mangala sat out the 1-1 draw at Chelsea with a shoulder problem.
But Pellegrini added: "Both of them are fine and will be in the squad. We have no injuries."
City have gone four games without a win, their joint worst run under Pellegrini, but the Chilean believes their display at Stamford Bridge shows they are returning to form.
He explained: "The game of Chelsea will be a switch of performance because we played a very good game playing away against the best team of the Premier League. I am sure we will see the team again we are normally used to seeing.
"I hope now with the whole squad fit we are going to return to [our best] performance and not repeat games against Arsenal and Middlesbrough [when] we didn't score. We are always a scoring team and must try to continue playing that way."