Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola will check on the fitness of both Fabian Delph and Vincent Kompany ahead of the game with Hull City on Saturday before deciding whether they will continue in the side.

The pair made rare starts in the midweek defeat to Chelsea, with both players completing their first full 90 minutes since the FA Cup win over Crystal Palace at the end of January.

They were widely praised for the way they handled the occasion and Guardiola and his medical staff will now assess their physical condition before deciding on whether to include them in Saturday’s matchday squad.

“We are going to train this afternoon and see if people are okay,” he said.

“Both of them played good. Fabian was excellent and maybe deserves more minutes than he had.

“Vincent the problem was he was injured all the time and, of course, he was ready for the last two, three weeks.

“I am happy for both of them because they deserve to play. I am always happy when I can give minutes to players who haven’t played too much. Their performance was outstanding.

“We have to evaluate it now with them, the physios. Of course, it’s been a long time [since they played], especially Vincent.

“We cannot forget Fabian has had a lot of problems the last year here at Manchester City.

“When you are a long time without playing games and then you play at Stamford Bridge with this personality, it shows me a lot.”

City sit fourth in the Premier League table, with Arsenal and Manchester United snapping at their heels in fifth and sixth, respectively.

With just eight Premier League games remaining this season, it looks like being one of the tightest races for a top-four place we’ve seen in a long time.

City face Hull on Saturday knowing three points is vital in their quest to land a place in the Champions League next season – but Guardiola says the appointment of Marco Silva has turned the Tigers into an impressive side and warned his players against any kind of complacency. 

“I know this manager when he was in Greece [with Olympiacos] and playing Champions League football and I was in Bayern Munich,” he said.

“He is making an outstanding job because it was absolutely at the bottom and he make some great results.

“I like the way they play. I liked the way they played when we were there and now they have players with a lot of talent in the way they want to play. It’s offensive, not just long balls.

“They play with a lot of quality and that’s why they are there.”