Frank Lampard has described the importance of having Abdoulaye Doucoure back in contention for Everton.
The midfielder has missed all of the new manager's four matches in charge of the club so far having picked up a groin injury in the loss to Aston Villa last month.
However, after completing individual training work last week, the Frenchman has been back with the main group over the course of the last few days and is set to be involved again against Man City at Goodison Park on Saturday.
Lampard refused to be drawn on whether he would use Doucoure straight from the start at the first time of asking this weekend.
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However, the Everton manager knows that the 29-year-old has a certain quality that the Blues have been distinctly lacking in the middle of the pitch in his absence.
Lampard remarked: "It's two-fold. I think I'll probably be confident in the nature of how he plays.
"He's a fit lad, a big part of his game is energy and athleticism as well as his qualities, and he brings that to the team.
"It's something that we need. In all honesty, we need that energy in midfield, especially with the way we want to play.
"In different ways he has real strengths that we can utilise.
"But I also have to temper that with making sure that we've got a lot of games to go. City is going to be a real physical output type of game, working as hard as you can without the ball.
"That's for me to balance the pros and cons of that, but he'll be a big plus for us coming back with the attributes that he brings that are different and a top level in many ways."
