In an attempt to push their winning streak to 12 games in all competitions, Manchester City will be without Jack Grealish when they play Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday.

The winger suffered a groine injury during Tuesday’s 3-1 victory away to Copenhagen in the first leg of their last-16 Champions League match, necessitating his replacement in the first half.

“All I know he is not available tomorrow,” manager Pep Guardiola told reporters on Friday.

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Manchester City can take back the league lead from Liverpool on Saturday, but given they have a game in hand, Tuesday’s visit from Brentford will serve as a better gauge as Guardiola’s team catches up in terms of games played.

“We just need to win our games,” Guardiola said about the tight title race.

“When we arrive with eight or nine games (remaining this season) we will see how many teams will be involved.

“It doesn’t matter if there are two, three or four (teams fighting for the title), we just need to do our job.”

After 24 games, Liverpool has 54 points, while City, who have won their past eight league games, is second in the standings and has the same number of points as third-place Arsenal (52). Arsenal has played one more game than City.

Mateo Kovacic and Sergio Gomez resumed training and will be available on Saturday, although Guardiola did not know how Bernardo Silva would fare.

“Bernardo we will assess in today’s training session,” the manager said.

Cole Palmer, 21, who came up through City’s academy programme, will be back at the Etihad on Saturday. On the last day of the summer transfer window, Palmer transferred to Chelsea.

Palmer informed the media that it will be a “weird feeling” to be back, and Guardiola was complimentary of his former player.

“Good player,” he said. “I didn’t have any doubts (that Palmer would play well for Chelsea).

“He is a star player and is already an exceptional player and moved on. A lovely lad and he helped us achieve what we achieved.”