Manchester City playmaker David Silva has urged his side to find the "balance" required to cope without captain Vincent Kompany.
Kompany has been plagued by injuries so far this season, with City keeping just one clean sheet in the 11 games he has missed compared to conceding only one goal in the nine games in which their skipper has featured.
However, with reports suggesting that the Belgian will not return from his calf injury until the latter stages of the season, Silva acknowledged that the title challengers need to come up with a winning formula without him on the field.
"Vinny is a key player for us and our captain. With or without him in the side we have to work hard to concede less, but it's not just the defence that defends, it's the whole team," Silva told reporters.
"It's the same when we're attacking - you need to have everyone helping out going forwards. So it's down to us all to perform our defensive duties and it's something we'll be trying to do to help the cause.
"Any team will miss their captain when they're out and we're no exception but when you look all over the field there are lots of figures willing to step up to the plate when needed. We need to get a balance between conceding less but without lowering the total amount of goals we score or chances we create."
City currently sit third in the Premier League table heading into Wednesday's meeting with Everton at the Etihad Stadium.
Barney Corkhill
