Robinho will undergo a fitness test on his troublesome ankle injury ahead of their clash with Everton at Eastlands, but Hughes is hopeful that the former Real Madrid forward will be fit to return to action for the first time since the derby defeat against Manchester United two weeks ago.
The 24-year-old is City’s leading scorer with nine goals so far this season, but a similar bright start to the campaign by Elano last term was followed by a sharp dip in form by Robinho’s Brazilian team-mate in the second half of the season.
Hughes is confident that Robinho will not suffer a similar form slump, however, and he believes that his fortnight out of the team will only help both player and team in the long-term.
Hughes said: “Robbie has been having a bit of a break at the moment because he is injured and maybe we will get the benefit of this further down the line, but he is still in every day and it’s not as if he is having time off.
"He is coming in and working hard to try to get himself back to full fitness, so he will hopefully be fit for the Everton game. But perhaps the fact that this break has come at this time might benefit him and us in the long-term.
"Given his quality and his application, and the way he wants to play every game after missing out in recent seasons, he wants to be out there and he wants to be playing. So despite his injury and the games ahead, I don’t see any risk of him allowing his own high standards to drop.
"It’s just that there is one part of the ankle that is concerning him when he tries to go flat out and, in the Premier League, you need to be dynamic and that’s what he is not able to do at the moment.”
Everton travel to Eastlands having won five games away from Goodison Park this season, but manager David Moyes is battling a striker crisis with Yakubu, Louis Saha and James Vaughan all absent due to injury.
Although Moyes admits that luring two new forwards to Goodison, albeit on loan, will be his priority in January, moves for Henrik Larsson and City’s out-of-favour Brazilian forward Jo have been ruled out.
The Palmeiras forward Kleber is being monitored by Moyes, but the manager admits that Everton’s lack of financial muscle will force him to scour the market for loan signings next month.
He said: “I think the board understand the situation, but I understand their situation as well, so it will be 99 per cent certain that I will be looking at loan players.
"There is not going to be loads of money, but I’m sure they will make what they can available to cover the wages of the players coming in."
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