De Bruyne in contention as City regain Mendy for Liverpool trip

Fit-again Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne is in the frame to feature against Liverpool in Sunday’s top-of-the-table Premier League encounter.

De Bruyne returned to training on Monday after spending just over six weeks out with a knee injury.

The Belgium international has not played since the opening weekend of the season, but Pep Guardiola revealed the club’s reigning player of the year is being closely monitored for the crunch trip to Anfield.

De Bruyne’s recovery has progressed well ahead of schedule and he could be included in the squad alongside Benjamin Mendy, who has been passed fit.

“Everybody is okay. [Fabian] Delph is not available. The others are okay,” Guardiola told a news conference.

“[Ilkay] Gundogan has a little bit of a problem. I don’t know if he will get there. He could not train today but we will see tomorrow.

“[De Bruyne] made part of the training session today. He is training with us, yeah. We will see tomorrow [if he can play].”

Left-back Mendy’s return from a bruised metatarsal and the possible inclusions of De Bruyne and Gundogan will boost the champions’ hopes of ending a run of three successive competitive defeats against Liverpool.

PEP: Every game is completely different (against Liverpool).

In the #UCL, the first game we made a good performance except at the end of the first half. At home we made a very good game as well. It doesn’t matter that we lost.

— Manchester City (@ManCity) October 5, 2018

That sequence includes both legs of last season’s Champions League quarter-final, but the poor recent record is not weighing on Guardiola’s mind.

“It doesn’t matter that we lost three games or won three games. Liverpool beat us but they beat a lot of teams, not just Manchester City,” he said.

“In the Champions League we also lost against Monaco and Shakhtar [Donetsk]. I’m not bitter. They beat us, so accept it. They have a good manager and good players.

“They are masters at taking advantage of your mistakes in terms of second balls and when the ball is not clear they are so good at making a real attack.

“It’s a top side. They made the Champions League final and they’re a good contender.”