Kevin De Bruyne remains a doubt for Manchester City's Premier League clash against Arsenal on Wednesday night.
City boss Pep Guardiola had been hoping to call upon the midfielder for Sunday's derby against Manchester United at Old Trafford after having to make do without the Belgian in the FA Cup tie away at Sheffield Wednesday..
"He is getting better," the Spaniard said in his pre-match press conference . "Today we didn’t train and tomorrow he will improve.
"This morning he was with the physio and he said he feels better.
"Not perfect, but he feels better.
"We will see."
However, when the team news was announced an hour before kick-off at the 'Theatre of Dreams', there was no sign of De Bruyne in the matchday squad let alone the starting line-up.
As expected, it turned out that Guardiola didn't want to risk a player of De Bruyne's importance especially with huge games on the horizon against Real Madrid and Newcastle United.
With that said, there's no guarantee that the attacking midfielder could be available for when the Gunners and Mikel Arteta visit the Etihad Stadium in the rearranged fixture.
"Kevin de Bruyne is getting better, I don't know when he will come back but he is getting better," Guardiola told reporters when asked about City's no.17.
"We have three important games in the Premier League, but of course the position that we have, Madrid and Newcastle are the real important games for us."
De Bruyne has already put the Gunners to the sword once this season, so him not being in the squad would certainly be regarded as a major boost for Arteta's side.
Following Saturday's 1-0 win over West Ham United, the north London outfit are still in with a shout of Champions League qualification but could do with a positive result against City to keep pace with Chelsea and Manchester United.
Although victory at the Etihad would leave Liverpool just one win way from clinching a first Premier League title in 30 years.
