Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola is hopeful of Erling Haaland returning from injury at the weekend and feels optimistic Kalvin Phillips and Kyle Walker will be fit before the World Cup.
Haaland, who has scored 17 goals in 11 Premier League games this season, missed the weekend win over Leicester City due to an ankle ligament problem.
The striker sustained the issue during City's 0-0 Champions League draw at his former club Borussia Dortmund last week, with Haaland withdrawn at half-time.
Guardiola confirmed on Saturday that Haaland would also miss Wednesday's visit of Sevilla, with City's confirmation as group winners meaning there is no need to take risks.
But he is seemingly positive about the prospect of Haaland returning in time to face Fulham at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
"He feels better. Comparing to Saturday, Sunday, Monday, every day he feels better, but he's still not 100 per cent," Guardiola said.
"We don't want to take a risk, there's no sense. Hopefully we have him and he feels better. Hopefully we have him against Fulham."
Fellow pre-season signing Phillips has been a longer-term absentee after hurting his shoulder in a friendly game against Barcelona in August.
The former Leeds United midfielder – who has played just one minute of Premier League football this season – ended up requiring surgery and has been out since mid-September.
He is now getting close to a return to action, though Guardiola was unsure if he will be risked for City before the World Cup.
"I don't know, he's doing really partial training sessions with the team, I would say not contact yet," Guardiola added. "But we'll see, we'll see his evolution and of course the needs.
"I know how important the World Cup is but I don't use a player I don't think is ready, in terms of the physicality or the rhythm or whatever, it depends on the results.
"My feeling now is all the games will be tight, like at the end of the season – many thoughts will be with the World Cup, many things involved, tired for the amount of games in a short period of time, so I don't think against Fulham, just for the quality of the opponent.
"Even Brentford – these aren't games that in the first half are going to be done. They will be tight, similar to the game against Leicester, so we evaluate the conditions of every player."
Guardiola suggested Walker – who had groin surgery early last month – remains a bit behind Phillips on the comeback trail, but despite that and being unwilling to commit to playing the latter in the next few weeks, the Catalan was positive about their chances of featuring in Qatar.
"It's likely [they can be ready], the way they recover," he said. "I don't know the intentions for Gareth [Southgate, England manager], but it's likely.
"I think [Southgate] spoke with them regularly, and with the doctors. They know exactly better than me, but what I hear in the dressing rooms is it's likely they can be ready. [They are desperate] you don't play a World Cup every week."
England begin their World Cup campaign on November 21 against Iran.
'Please, doubt us' – Dias dares Man City's critics
Ruben Dias has dared Manchester City's critics to "doubt us" after the Premier League champions' four-game losing streak.
Pep Guardiola lost four straight matches in all competitions for the first time in his managerial career as City capitulated in a 2-1 loss to Brighton on Saturday.
That loss came on the back of a 4-1 defeat to Sporting CP – coached by new Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim – in the Champions League, as well as a reverse to Bournemouth in the Premier League and an EFL Cup exit at the hands of Tottenham.
City are five points behind league leaders Liverpool, but Dias shrugged off the doubters.
"I would say, please doubt us, doubt us, feel welcome to do so," the centre-back told reporters.
"When we did the treble, we even called it the dark January. We had a tough period. But it is what it is.
"What matters is how you bounce back from these moments. That's why our team has won so much because in moments of difficulty, the characters come up and we stay together.
"We don't find people to kill, we find people to bring into the cause and fight together.
"That's what we need to do once again. Until it's done, it's not done."
City's losing run combined with Liverpool's excellent form has seen a swing in the Opta supercomputer's predictions.
The model now has Liverpool as the favourites, with a 60.3% chance of winning the title.
Premier League MD11: Lucky winners and unlucky losers
The final international break of 2024 is here, and we can safely say the Premier League is starting to take shape.
Opta's supercomputer now has Liverpool, who are five points clear at the top following their win over Aston Villa on Saturday, as the favourites to go on and win the title.
Manchester City lost a fourth straight game in all competitions as they went down 2-1 at Brighton, while Chelsea and Arsenal are third and fourth respectively after sharing the points.
When assessing the underlying metrics, it looks like Sunday's draw at Stamford Bridge was a fair result, but that was not the case across the board this weekend.
Here, we pick out the lucky winners and unlucky losers from matchday 11.
Lucky winners: Manchester United
Manchester United are now under new management, with Ruben Amorim officially starting as head coach on Monday. But interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy ensured he went out with a high as the Red Devils beat Leicester City 3-0 on Sunday.
However, it is fair to say United were rather fortunate to net three times at Old Trafford, with the data suggesting they did not even create chances worthy of one goal, never mind three.
United's expected goals (xG) was 0.69, the third-lowest total in the league this weekend and behind Leicester's 0.77.
Bruno Fernandes scored one and set up another on his 250th appearance for the club, either side of Victor Kristiansen's own goal, but from 13 shots, United, who had only 17 touches in Leicester's box, really did not create much in the way of quality opportunities.
Indeed, their attacking quality instead told, with Fernandes and Alejandro Garnacho finishing well. At the other end, Leicester failed to make their moments count, despite hitting the target with five of their six shots.
Spare a thought for Erik ten Hag, given when he was in charge, United's attack was underperforming. Now Amorim just needs to pick up where Van Nistelrooy left off...
Unlucky losers: Manchester City
Man City are suddenly the crisis club, having lost four straight games for the first time since August 2006. Pep Guardiola, meanwhile, has lost four games in a row in all competitions for the very first time in his managerial career.
Erling Haaland also lost a Premier League match in which he scored a goal for the very first time, having put City ahead before Joao Pedro and Matt O'Riley clinched the points for Brighton.
Brighton finished with 2.29 xG, so they did deserve to score at least twice. However, City can still consider themselves unfortunate, given their 2.22 xG was the third-highest of any team across the weekend.
Their post-shot expected goals on target (xGoT) also rose to 2.98, showing that Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen was on fine form.
City also created five big chances, missing four of them, and hit the woodwork once. That being said, they conceded eight big chances, with Brighton letting them off for six of those, so it was not a good day at the office for Guardiola.
Unlucky losers: Bournemouth
If Man City were unfortunate, then the team to have created the highest xG (2.61) this past weekend – Bournemouth – can consider themselves hard done by.
Andoni Iraola claimed his team were worthy of the three points against Brentford, despite the Cherries losing 3-2, and the underlying metrics suggest the Spaniard was fair in his assessment.
Only Tottenham (35 in their loss against Ipswich Town) had more touches in the opponent's box than Bournemouth's 34 at the Gtech Community Stadium, but Iraola's side were made to pay for some dismal finishing.
Their xGoT dropped to 1.68, while Brentford's rose from 1.48 xG to 1.84 xGoT – essentially, the level of finishing from Brentford's players increased the likelihood they would score, while Bournemouth's finishing was below what would have been anticipated based on the quality of chances they had. That is further backed up by the fact the Cherries only got three of their 15 attempts on target.
Man City need to 'change things quickly' – Guardiola
Pep Guardiola conceded Manchester City need to "change things quickly" after they suffered a fourth consecutive loss in all competitions against Brighton.
It is the first time the Spaniard has lost four games in a row in his managerial career, while the last time City suffered four consecutive defeats was back in August 2006, under Stuart Pearce.
Erling Haaland had given the visitors a first-half lead, but two quickfire goals from substitutes Joao Pedro and Matt O'Riley turned the match on its head, with Brighton the better side in the second half.
In fact, City have lost a Premier League game in which they led at half-time for the first time since May 2021, and that defeat also came away to Brighton.
And Guardiola suggested his team, who have been rocked by injuries, are simply finding matters too tough.
"We are not able to do 90 minutes right now," Guardiola told BBC Sport. "We played a really good first half and moments in the second half.
"We lost again, so clean our heads, international break and hopefully our players come back fit.
"We have to try and win games again. We were not able to sustain the rhythm in the second half. Four [defeats] in a row. We have to change things quickly.
"The schedule becomes tough, but it is going to happen when the players come back. Maybe after seven years, winning six Premier Leagues, maybe one year another team deserve it. We'll see."
City have conceded 10 goals during their losing streak, managing just four goals of their own in that time.
The reigning Premier League champions have more tough games coming up, with Tottenham and Liverpool their next opponents in the top flight, and Kyle Walker believes the international break may have come at the right time.
"There are slight moments that aren't rubbing off in our favour. Certain challenges we're arriving a little late for. That's the period we're going through. The break is coming at the right time," he said.
"There are many reasons. It's form, it's how we're feeling on a day to day. It's tough. We've been fortunate to have success here in the last eight years. This is the time you show character and stick your boots on and go through the mud. Now we get to see the real characters and want to push forward and achieve something special.
"We've never gone four games without a wi. Still, it's tough to take. Everyone wants to turn it around."
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