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Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola said Sergio Aguero, Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne have all made recoveries from injury, but not all of them will play against Everton.

The City boss declared that the key trio are “much, much, much better”, but kept his cards close to his chest in terms of who will make the starting line up tomorrow.

City have an important tie against Barcelona in the Champions League next Wednesday but Guardiola guaranteed that tomorrow is the most important game.

He said: “Some will play tomorrow, some will not. They all trained good in the last few days. I don’t know if they’ll play for 90 minutes. We’ll have to think about it this afternoon.

“I never prioritise games. The next one is always the most important game. I’ll see how the international players are - some recover quickly, some need more time.”

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Guardiola also said that Bacary Sagna will be sidelined for the next three weeks meaning that Pablo Zabaleta is a shoo-in to face up against the Blues tomorrow.

The former Barcelona boss also waxed lyrical about Everton manager Ronald Koeman. He spoke of how highly he regards the Dutchman after their time playing together at the Catalan club.

He also admitted that ex-Everton defender John Stones had warned Guardiola of the class that Koeman’s side will possess when they meet at the Etihad tomorrow.

“John told me how good they are, the quality of the players – he was one month, two months with Ronald - not a long time.

“He played with five in the first game against Tottenham, sometimes 4-4-2, sometimes 4-5-1. I don’t know what Ronald will do on Saturday.”

It is unclear whether Guardiola is playing mind games by potentially benching some of City’s key players. But if the deadly trio are not all fit for tomorrow then it will be a huge boost for Everton’s chances of getting a win and closing the gap behind City to one point.

Even though he ensured tomorrow is the main focus – Guardiola will undoubtedly have an eye on next week’s clash against his former club and it may be a big call to risk all three stars if not fully fit.