Manchester City are able to cope with the loss of key players better now than at other time in their recent history, but losing influential midfielder Kevin De Bruyne for around four weeks after he picked up a hamstring injury in the 3-1 victory over Swansea City on Saturday is still a painful blow for Pep Guardiola.

City have been without Sergio Aguero (banned for three games), David Silva (missing for three successive matches with a minor injury) and captain Vincent Kompany (available for just one game this season), without it impacting City's perfect 10 out of 10 victories to the start of the season.

Indeed all three were missing for the 4-0 demolition of Bournemouth earlier this month when the Cherries were torn apart by City's pace, movement and invention.

City's chief orchestrator that day was De Bruyne, who started the ball rolling with a clever free kick -- shot into the net under the wall -- and then finished it with an exquisite pass that carved open the Bournemouth defence to set up Ilkay Gundogan for his first goal for the club.

De Bruyne has two goals and five assists already this season and his performances have prompted Guardiola to claim the 25-year-old is among the best players he has ever worked with -- barring the peerless Lionel Messi -- which is why his absence could potentially be felt more than the others.

While many of the players from City's under-performing squad from last season have significantly improved, De Bruyne remains the most creative force at the Etihad.

He has the most assists in the Premier League (four, one more than Kelechi Iheanacho), averages more key passes (3.3, better than Silva's 2.6), averages more crosses (2.2, better than Silva's 1.0), and averages more through-balls (0.7, more than Silva's 0.4).

Indeed, De Bruyne has become a pivotal figure since his £51m move from Wolfsburg in August 2015, with City winning 54 percent of the 41 matches he appeared in last season, but just 36 percent of the 14 games he missed.

His fresh injury is his first significant absence since damaging his knee ligaments, which proved to be a major factor in City's crumbling title challenge last season.

He missed two months of the season after picking up the injury in the Capital One Cup semifinal victory over Everton in February and in the seven Premier League games that followed without him, City lost four and won just twice.

The good news for City is that next week's international break lessens the impact of his absence on their Premier League challenge. He will miss Sunday's top of the table battle with Tottenham at White Hart Lane and the clash with Everton on Oct. 15, but could be back for the trip to Southampton the following weekend.

However he is expected to be ruled out for the Champions League trips to Celtic on Wednesday and Barcelona on Oct. 19, which will go a long way to deciding where City finish in Group C.

City are better placed to cope without him this time, particularly with the addition of Gundogan, who has settled quickly into the side after recovering from his own injury problems -- a dislocated kneecap that ruled him out for nearly five months.

Guardiola also has other options with a resurgent Raheem Sterling starting the season in style, £13.8m signing Nolito hitting the ground running and versatile £37m Germany international Leroy Sane desperate to make an impression.

Still, De Bruyne was a major loss when City were without him last season and it's an early test of Guardiola's reign to see how this side can cope without the creativity and energy that has been crucial to the club for much of the last 12 months.