Manchester City will sign a striker in January, says Manuel Pellegrini

London: Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini will trawl the January transfer market in search of a striker tasked with helping the Premier League champions to successfully defend their title.

City, who sit level on 46 points with Chelsea at the top of the Premier League table, have lacked attacking options in recent weeks after injuries to strikers Sergio Aguero, Edin Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic.

Despite the injured trio being well on the road to recovery, Pellegrini hopes to sign a striker to fill the void left by Alvaro Negredo who was sold to Valencia in September.

"We are going to replace Alvaro Negredo because it was the decision that we took in the moment we sold him," Pellegrini told a news conference on Friday.

"We decided to see in December if we needed another striker. We need another striker so we are going to find which is the best player to bring in."

City travel to Goodison Park on Saturday and will come up against an Everton side that have lost their last four Premier League matches.

Argentine striker Aguero, who has scored 19 goals in all competitions this season, will make a welcome return for City after recovering from the knee injury he picked up against Everton at the start of December.

Striker Dzeko and captain Vincent Kompany are also in City`s squad to face Everton after overcoming calf and hamstring injuries respectively.

"We have a tough game against a rival at Everton. Maybe they are not in their best moment but they have a very difficult team," Pellegrini said.

"They play very well with good players and a very good manager. If we want to continue in the same way, we must play in the same way if we want to win.

"We start now the second half of the season. Every game will be a final for all the teams involved in the fight for the title. Not only in the Premier League, it is the same in FA Cup or Champions League. If you don`t win, you are out of the cup."