Toure confident of being fit for final challenge

The influential midfielder was withdrawn at half-time of last weekend’s draw at Swansea in the Premier League due to fatigue and was rested for the midweek win over West Brom.

But those were precautionary measures by manager Roberto Mancini and the Ivory Coast international, who scored the winner in the cup final two years ago.

Toure said: “I am good. Sometimes it is difficult to play all the games at the same level and sometimes you can get an injury.

“But we have worked on that, trying to keep injury far away and try to concentrate on delivering at the weekend.

“I am already fit. I started training three days ago and I am well in now.

“I want to deliver a good game and help the team to achieve something important.”

Winger Scott Sinclair is out of contention after undergoing surgery to remove a blood clot in his shoulder, but otherwise City have no major injury concerns.

Back-up goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon is expected to be selected ahead of England No 1 Joe Hart having played in all the previous rounds.

Victory for City would provide some consolation after their failure to defend the Premier League title they won last season.

But Gary Caldwell hopes Wigan can ease the pain of the Latics’ injured players by lifting the Cup.

Wigan will be big underdogs when they take on Manchester City in the club’s first FA Cup final, and they have not been helped by a string of untimely injuries.

The Latics looked to have overcome an injury crisis that contributed to a poor run in the Premier League earlier this season, but the problem has returned.

Antolin Alcaraz, Jean Beausejour (both hamstring), Maynor Figueroa (groin) and Ronnie Stam (ankle) have all picked up knocks in recent games, joining long-term absentees Albert Crusat and Ivan Ramis on the sidelines.

Alcaraz is the only one of the six who has a chance of playing again this season, but the cup final may come too soon for the influential Paraguayan.

Caldwell said: “It’s one of the worst things in football to be injured and to miss any game, but to miss a game as big as this is a big blow for them and hopefully the team that goes out can put in a performance that wins the game for those guys.

“Throughout the course of the competition it’s been a real squad effort, from the younger players who started the competition to get us through the early rounds to now the team that’s been playing in the last couple of rounds.”