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Pep Guardiola remains hopeful Kyle Walker will be fit to feature at the World Cup as he offered positive updates on fellow England internationals John Stones and Kalvin Phillips.
Walker has not featured for Manchester City since suffering an abdominal injury in the Premier League champions’ 6-3 win over Manchester United earlier this month.
The 32-year-old subsequently underwent surgery, leaving his chances of making the trip to Qatar in the balance and dealing Gareth Southgate another selection headache.
Chelsea right-back Reece James also faces a race against time to make the squad, while Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold has been in poor form this season.
However, Walker offered hope to England supporters last week, telling BBC Radio 5 Live he was “confident” of returning to action before the tournament begins.
Speaking ahead of City’s Premier League meeting with Brighton and Hove Albion, Guardiola offered an update on the condition of his England trio, saying: “I haven’t spoken to the doctors about Kyle.
“Hopefully it can happen, if he’s selected, that he can go to the World Cup.
“John has trained for the last two days with us, tomorrow, he’s on the list. Kalvin is incredible, he’s much better as well. They are recovering very well.”
City fell to their first defeat of the campaign against Liverpool last Sunday, but are expected to get back on track against a Brighton side yet to taste victory under new boss Roberto De Zerbi (D2 L2).
On Saturday, De Zerbi could become the first Premier League coach to fail to win any of his first five games at the helm since Scott Parker in April 2019, but Guardiola has backed him to have a “massive” impact in the competition.
“I’m really happy he is here, I saw the last two games he had here, and he is already playing the way he wants to play,” Guardiola added. “His impact in England will be massive in the future.
“He was counter-cultural in his country. In Italy, they mainly play in an incredible way which gave them a lot of success as a country, but he plays a completely different way to Italy.
“His Sassuolo team was an incredible example that no matter the quality or investment that you have, if you believe in something 100 per cent, the way your team plays, you can do it.
“He’s a really good example for every manager. At the start, it doesn’t matter about the results, what matters is the way you believe and the way you want to see your team playing football.”
City have won their last nine Premier League home games, scoring at least three goals in each. There have only been two longer such runs in English top-flight history, both recorded by Aston Villa (12 in 1897 and 13 in 1930-31).
