Pep Guardiola gives team news updates on three Man City players vs Nottingham Forest

Manchester City will not rush their injured players back to face Nottingham Forest on Wednesday, even if that means they are likely to miss the fixture at the Etihad.

Kalvin Phillips missed the dramatic win over Crystal Palace after being substituted in the friendly at Barcelona last week following a blow to his forearm, while Jack Grealish and Nathan Ake missed both games with minor injuries.

Guardiola confirmed that all three players are back in City training ahead of a busy period of fixtures, with six games in 18 days coming up, but effectively ruled out their involvement against Forest.

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Asked about Grealish and Phillips, Guardiola said: "Much better, I saw them on the other pitch in the training session and they are close, with the ball. Nathan as well, they are much much better.

"Maybe we will see for Aston Villa, the Champions League, or the next one for Tottenham. They are closer and we need them because we are few players."

With the Champions League beginning next week with a trip to Sevilla, Guardiola was also asked about how much he can rely on Erling Haaland, as well as others who will be required to play in a packed schedule between now and the World Cup in November.

"He is 22 years old, he’s young and recovers well," Guardiola said.

"I think he is able to play quite regularly, but not because there is a World Cup. I don’t handle players for national coaches. They don’t think about us when they are with their national teams. So we are here and going to try to make decisions game by game and see what happens. But it was four days between these games, then three days for Aston Villa and Sevilla, then three or four days for Tottenham.