Pep Guardiola has told Kevin De Bruyne to find his 'pace and rhythm' after the midfielder returned to Manchester City's first-team for Saturday afternoon's Premier League game against Fulham.
The Belgian has been hampered by two separate knee injuries this season, missing 27 games over the course of the campaign.
De Bruyne's last City appearance came in the 1-0 win at Bournemouth on March 2, but his afternoon was cut short with a thigh problem on 47 minutes.
And Guardiola wants the 27-year-old to rediscover his best form.
“Kevin’s back, a lot of players are back from international duty," the City boss said. "He trained all week and was training really well. He has to come back to his pace and his rhythm."
City have eight games remaining of their title retention bid and sit two points adrift of league-leaders Liverpool ahead of the trip to Craven Cottage.
Liverpool host Tottenham on Sunday afternoon and Guardiola insists that City will concentrate on their own performance levels to ensure success between now and the end of the season.
“When you are seven or eight points ahead then yeah [it is yours to loose]," Guardiola said. "We are second in the division. Of course we have one game more than Liverpool but still we’re asking the same thing: to play better before or after [Liverpool play].
“We don’t think too much about what happens in the other teams and we concentrate on what we have to do.
“If you think about the next one then you forget what you have to do today. I’m pretty sure in the next game against Cardiff I’m going to make a few changes because of the fixtures and the schedule we have at this stage of the season.
"In April, if we go through in the competitions so we have a lot of games. Everybody must be involved in that.”
