The Blues ended a seven-game winless run with a 3-0 home success over Nottingham Forest on Wednesday.
That victory came without the star of pre-season Oscar Bobb, Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, four-time Champions League winner Mateo Kovacic, six-time Premier League winner John Stones and Premier League, PFA and FWA Player of the Year Phil Foden.
The triumph provided more concerns for the manager, with Manuel Akanji sitting out the second half and Nathan Ake having to be substituted in the final few minutes.
In his pre-match press conference, the manager revealed that Foden and Ake will both miss out against Crystal Palace this weekend, while he will wait on the fitness of Akanji and player of the match Kevin De Bruyne, who will need to be assessed after returning to the starting line-up against Forest for the first time in just under three months.
Guardiola admits these absences are far from ideal but believes team spirit is vital to navigate a positive path forward.
“I would say in the past I rotate a lot,” he said of his approach to the defensive line-up.
“I would say not always the back four the same. But now, this season it’s because we don’t have it. We lost the two holding midfielders for long and after central defenders for a long time we didn’t have it.
“Now apparently we come back and now we come back again with the problems.
“I have four defenders for tomorrow, no more than that.
“The schedule ahead of us, we have to handle it. It’s an incredible bruising and incredible challenge to do it.
“We break that bad run because it’s not easy when you don’t win for a long time and now we have to try and continue with the good spirit that we show. We will see what happens.”
