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Everton hope to have Romelu Lukaku fit for Wednesday’s Manchester City trip and have been boosted by news that Seamus Coleman’s injury is not as bad as initially feared.

The Blues lost both influential players to injury during their 2-1 win over Manuel Pellegrini’s title-chasers in the first leg of their Capital One Cup semi-final last Wednesday.

They take on City once again in the Premier League this week, and although it will come too soon for defender Coleman and midfielder Tom Cleverley, the Blues boss hopes Lukaku can recover to lead the line.

He had predicted that Coleman could be missing for between three and four weeks, casting serious doubt over his involvement in the second leg of the semi-final, which is also at the Etihad stadium on Wednesday January 27.

But the Republic of Ireland right-back’s calf injury should now keep him out for more like two-and-and-a-half weeks.

He said: “Hopefully Rom will train on Monday. For Tom it will be difficult but we’ll assess him on Tuesday. Seamus is definitely out, but probably for more like 15-17 days.

“Rom and Tom Cleverley weren’t even considered (for the FA Cup win over Dagenham) because of the knocks they picked up in midweek.

“Every game now is important if you want to create momentum but we have to use the squad in the right manner if we want to protect players.

“We want to get into the final third as fresh as we can and we can’t overload any of the players, but every game we go into our intention is to win and to put a team out that allows us to do that.”

Martinez denied that he has a tough decision in selecting his goalkeeper for Wednesday, hinting that Tim Howard will go back into the team after Joel Robles deputised to impressive effect in the last two cup games.

“I’m delighted with the options we have,” he said. “Joel has been fantastic every time he’s been on the pitch and he was fantastic again against Dagenham.

“Tim Howard is part of the Everton badge and sometimes you forget that he’s played over 400 games in 10 seasons.

“I value his experience a lot, even more than the moment of form you can have on the pitch sometimes.”

The Everton manager knows that the mid-week trip to Manchester could have a bearing on how the second leg of the League Cup pans out.

He said: “I’m sure it would because between the two teams you’ve got a familiarity and maybe that will play a part but not intentionally.

“The game on Wednesday is so important in the league for different reasons – they’re trying to get that top spot and we’re trying to get as high up as we can – and the three points are important in themselves, so I don’t think we need to look any further than that.

“Playing a team three times in three weeks will have a role in terms of how you prepare the game but not in a conscious manner.”