Roberto Mancini hopes Man City trio Yaya Toure, Kolo Toure and Abdul Razak miss Africa Cup of Nations

Roberto Mancini is hoping Manchester City trio Yaya Toure, Kolo Toure and fringe player Abdul Razak miss the Africa Cup of Nations.

The Ivory Coast stars all look set to miss the start of 2013 with the Blues when the tournament kicks off in South Africa.

And Etihad boss Mancini admits it'll be hard to keep the players with his squad.

He said: "If we lost Yaya and Kolo and maybe Abdul, who also has not played a lot of games here but maybe in January could be important if we have two or three players injured and we don't have other players - I hope that maybe they don't go in this competition.

"We talk and we need to talk more with their manager but it is difficult."