Sergio Aguero could return to action for Manchester City against Stoke City on Saturday – a little over two weeks on from the Argentina striker suffering a broken rib in a car crash.
A taxi taking Aguero to Amsterdam airport smashed into a lamppost, ruling him out of the Kevin De Bruyne-inspired 1-0 win at Chelsea that kept City at the top of the Premier League table heading into the international break.
It meant Aguero was sidelined for Argentina's concluding World Cup qualifiers, as Lionel Messi dragged them to Russia 2018 with a sensational hat-trick versus Ecuador, and national team doctor Donato Villani suggested a one-and-a-half month absence was likely.
However, the 29-year-old gave weight to the initial estimate from City's medical team of a two-to-four week absence and he returned to light training earlier this week.
At that stage, City said Aguero would not be ready to play Stoke but he took part in a full session on Thursday and Guardiola told reporters the man who is within one goal of City's all-time scoring record may feature against Mark Hughes' men.
"He did his first training session after what happened and he did it quite well," he said.
"Hopefully as soon as possible he will be back. Maybe [Aguero will play against Stoke], we are going to see the last training session.
"He is not 100 per cent but he is quite well. He explained to us what happened and the most important thing is it was not as bad as it could have been."
Citizens 11/1 to beat Stoke 5-0
— Manchester City (@ManCity) October 13, 2017
The news was less encouraging for club captain Vincent Kompany, whose latest calf injury setback remains on ongoing process.
"He is still injured," Guardiola said. "He's much, much better but he's still injured.
"Hopefully he is in the last part."
Guardiola maintained City's most pressing injury concern is Benjamin Mendy's long-term absence following cruciate knee ligament surgery.
#PEP: The transfer window is closed now, we will see if we can add in January, the problem we have is the @benmendy23 injury. #cityvstoke
— Manchester City (@ManCity) October 13, 2017
Mendy is the only specialist left-back in the first-team squad at the Etihad Stadium but Fabian Delph's efforts in the position before the international break caught the eye of the France star.
"The transfer window is closed now, we will see if we can add in January," Guardiola said when fielding a question over Arsenal forward and long-time target Alexis Sanchez.
"The problem we have in the Benjamin Mendy injury."
Responding to a Twitter post on this part of the news conference from City's official website, Mendy tweeted: "Don't worry, Delph got this coach."
Dont worry Delph got this coach ahaha
— Benjamin Mendy (@benmendy23) October 13, 2017
