Aymeric Laporte, Rodrigo, John Stones and Oleksandr Zinchenko all missed last weekend’s draw with Southampton, whilst Ilkay Gundogan has also been carrying a knock.
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The centre-back pairing of Laporte and Stones were pictured at training on Thursday, as was Rodrigo, but the Manchester City boss admitted a number of players are still short of full fitness, though he did not reveal who is unavailable for the trip to Stamford Bridge.
“We still have a few injuries,” he said at his pre-match press conference.
“Some of them came back a little bit in training and tomorrow we will decide if they are ready to play or not.
“Not all of them [are in contention]. Some of them come back to training today, but we need to see how they react and tomorrow we will see.”
Chelsea will also be affected by injury, with Christian Pulisic and Mason Mount ruled out, though Thomas Tuchel has confirmed goalkeeper Eduoard Mendy is fit again and will start.
City have lost our previous three meetings with the West Londoners, including the agonising defeat in last season’s Champions League final.
Guardiola hopes learning from that experience can help him achieve a better outcome on Saturday, though he admits he will not be altering his approach due to Chelsea’s recent success in this fixture.
“We prepare the game like we prepare Southampton and like before in the previous games,” he added.
“Try to read what they are and what we have done in recent games against Chelsea under Tuchel. Every game is a new challenge, a new opportunity to learn, improve and do better.
“It’s not a final like in the FA Cup and the Premier League was already done. Of, course the Champions League is massive. We try to learn.
“This is a new competition. It’s one more game. We prepare the game like the strong points we have and see what we can do to be better.
“That’s the mindset we have. It will be the same against Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool before the international break.”
