With the Brazilian ruled out for two months with a medial collateral ligament problem, City’s all-time top scorer Sergio Aguero stands as the Blues’ only recognised striker in the squad.
However, with the Premier League leaders still alive in all four competitions and with another packed period of fixtures looming, Guardiola admitted the Argentine ace will not be expected to play 90 minutes every game.
Asked who in the current squad could be utilised in that position or whether City will be forced to spend in the January transfer window, the Catalan boss insisted he has alternative plans in mind.
“In this amount of games, we have just one striker in Sergio,” he stated.
“We have other options in the squad to play in that position
“Of course, Sergio is going to play and play. Hopefully, he can show us the top level he has. We are going to speak every day with him and before every game and after every game to see how he feels.
“When you have a game every three days, some minutes you have to rest and some games you have to play. It is natural.
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“We are so happy with what he has done so far in the period we have been together. Before I came here, he had long periods of injury. In this two years, he hasn’t suffered that.
“He was banned two or three times because he is so aggressive without the ball.
“Since then, he has been good and fit. Hopefully, we can handle it until the end because we need striker goals.
“Our success is strikers but also through wingers, attacking midfielders and set-pieces we have scored a lot of goals.
“Our striker is our striker. We need and we need Sergio. We need both of them.
“In this moment, we maybe will have two months without Gabriel and two months is a lot of games so we just have one striker.”
City’s Champions League trip to Barcelona last year.
However, Guardiola added the Belgian is much more effective in midfield and dismissed the suggestion he will be employed upfront.
“Kevin, no (he will not play as a striker),” he continued. “He played at the Nou Camp last season as a striker but I prefer that he plays in the middle.
“We have other options – not a ‘striker’ striker but we have guys with the mentality to be around the box who can solve that problem.”
