Pep Guardiola has admitted that the ankle injury sustained by John Stones in Manchester City's 3-1 win at Everton on Wednesday "doesn't look good", but the Citizens boss is hopeful that the issue is not a serious one.
Stones has already been troubled with hip, ankle and hamstring injuries that have forced him to miss a total of 12 games so far this season.
The England international picked up another setback shortly before half time in City's Premier League win at Goodison Park as he landed awkwardly on his ankle after blocking Everton striker Beto inside the penalty area.
While Guardiola has raised some concern over Stones's latest injury, the Catalan manager is hopeful that the damage is not severe.
Speaking to Amazon Prime after the match, Guardiola said: "It doesn't look good, but we will see. It's his ankle."
"Hopefully the damage isn't big and he can come back soon," Guardiola added via mancity.com. "It'll be less demanding, December has been tough with injuries but we are there [in the title race]."
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Guardiola was left frustrated by the incident that led to Stones's injury as the linesman delayed his decision to correctly raise his flag to rule Beto offside once the attack had finished.
"I said to [fourth official] Anthony Taylor, it's the same with [the handball rule]. You go to Europe and the Champions League it's another hand," Guardiola said. "I don't know. If it's offside, it's offside. If there's doubts, okay, but now there's an injury. They said 'you're right', but what's the solution?"
Man City had to cope without the services of Kevin De Bruyne (hamstring), Erling Haaland (foot) and Jeremy Doku (muscle) on Wednesday as they continue to recover from injury, and Guardiola has insisted that the former cannot be rushed back into action following a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
De Bruyne returned to first-team training during the Citizens' successful Club World Cup campaign last week, but the playmaker has not played a competitive match since mid-August after undergoing hamstring surgery.
"He's close but he had fatigue," Guardiola said on De Bruyne. "We have to be careful he's been injured for three months like an ACL for six months, if you don't handle the timings well, you get injured again.
"The injury was serious but he's training with us. So positive and he'll be back soon. "I'd love him to play the next game or against Huddersfield (in the FA Cup on January 7) but what is important is keeping him fit for a long time, not for one game or another."
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Meanwhile, Guardiola has confirmed that Haaland is yet to train with the first team and is targeting a return in the New Year, seemingly ruling the striker out of Saturday's Premier League clash with Sheffield United.
"He's training a lot but not with the team yet," Guardiola added. "Kevin is with the team. Erling not yet but feels better.
"It's not a stress or fracture but a question on when the pain will disappear. Hopefully, in January he can come back with us.
"He has a stress, the bone is fit but painful. He's not like [Phil] Foden who is small and skinny, Erling is huge so it's difficult at times.
"He'll be fine, and when he is he'll be back and play. The doctors come every morning and say 'this player is available and this one is not'. Until then, I create the team and we play games."
Ruben Dias was another Man City player who missed the midweek win at Everton, but his absence was only due to illness and the defender could be in a position to return to the matchday squad on Saturday.
Oliver Thomas
