KEV PRIMED TO PEP UP OUR SEASON
Belgian ace gives Guardiola a lift
PEP GUARDIOLA believes a refreshed Kevin De Bruyne can have a special effect on Manchester City’s season after putting exhaustion and injury behind him.
The midfielder is closing in on a return for the champions and could even feature on the bench this lunchtime against Everton, after nine games out with a knee injury. And the City boss is looking forward to the Belgian star coming back in the same sort of form he showed last season, when his side ripped up the record books to charge their way to the title.
“It will help us a lot,” said Guardiola of De Bruyne.
“I said in the beginning we missed him the first and the second time.
“It is important because he has to recover fully his condition and compete with the other players but so far he has done incredibly good. It is good news he is coming back.”
Stunning
Sergio Aguero might also feature from the bench after four matches out with a muscle strain.
It is a measure of the importance of De Bruyne, though, that his return generates the most excitement.
The playmaker has missed 16 Premier League games this season, briefly reappearing from one knee injury at the end of October, only to injure the other one in the Carabao Cup match against Fulham on November 1.
Guardiola believes that after a stunning season last term, followed by a gruelling World Cup, De Bruyne was in need of mental refreshment as well as physical rest even before he got injured.
“I think Kevin was exhausted last season,” said Guardiola.
“He played a lot of minutes and it was an incredible performance, then after that it was the World Cup. I had the feeling he was a little tired.
“We don’t want anyone to be injured but maybe it will help us now that he is fresh in his mind and is recovered.
“Now he needs to try not to be injured again and play regularly.
“But of course he is going to help us because he is a special player.”
It is testament to City’s resources that they have lost just one top-flight match without him – last weekend against Chelsea – winning 13 and drawing the other two.
If De Bruyne returns refreshed and fully fit for the second half of the season, his team-mates have delivered him a decent platform on which to shine.
“We have competed with the best starts from Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham, qualified for the Champions League first, and still we are there, second and one point behind,” said Guardiola.
“The way we have played has been really good but we cannot be far away because the rest will drop few points, especially Liverpool.”