Manchester City supporters were hoping that November's international break would provide some of the club's senior stars with an opportunity to step up their recovery from injury.
Pep Guardiola has been working with small squad riddled with fitness issues for some time and oversaw a run of seven consecutive games without a win in all competitions for the first time in his managerial career between October 30 and December 1.
Man City returned to winning ways last week when they beat Nottingham Forest 3-0 in the Premier League at the Etihad Stadium, but they were forced to settle for a 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace last weekend, and their hopes of retaining the title are now hanging by a thread.
Sitting fourth in the Premier League table and eight points behind leaders Liverpool, who have a game in hand, Man City are still dealing with a number of fitness issues, and their victory over Forest came at a cost as both Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji were withdrawn with injuries.
While Akanji missed the draw with Palace and is ruled out of Wednesday's Champions League trip to Juventus, Ake is facing a spell on the sidelines with Rodri, Oscar Bobb, John Stones and Mateo Kovacic, the latter of whom has now missed five games due to injury.
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What is the latest on Mateo Kovacic's recovery from injury?
Guardiola confirmed Kovacic's injury last month, telling reporters at the time that he is set to miss "three weeks or a month, more or less" with his unspecified problem.
The 30-year-old, who has played 15 times in all competitions for Man City this season, was hurt while playing for Croatia in a 1-1 draw with Portugal in the UEFA Nations League on November 18, and was substituted at half time.
Since sustaining his injury, Kovacic has missed games against Tottenham Hotspur (0-4), Feyenoord (3-3), Liverpool (2-0), Nottingham Forest (3-0) and Crystal Palace (2-2), but the midfielder is now closing in on a return.
Indeed, Kovacic has travelled as part of Man City's 22-man squad to Turin ahead of Wednesday's Champions League showdown with Juventus, and he was pictured in team training on Tuesday morning.
Guardiola has since revealed that Kovacic could feature for "a few minutes", but a return against Juventus is unlikely.
Kovacic may therefore target a return for the Manchester derby against rivals Manchester United on Sunday, or an away trip to Aston Villa on December 21.
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Who has been filling in for Kovacic in Man City's midfield?
Kovacic was the man tasked with filling the void left by Rodri and was deployed as a deep-lying playmaker in the vast majority of his 15 appearances for Man City across all competitions this season.
Guardiola has had no natural defensive midfielders in his senior squad since Kovacic sustained his injury, and he has predominantly relied on Ilkay Gundogan, Rico Lewis and Bernardo Silva to occupy deeper midfield roles, with two of those being tasked with playing together rather than just a sole pivot. De Bruyne, Matheus Nunes and Jack Grealish have also be called upon to operate in midfield.
Academy starlet Nico O'Reilly is another midfield option at Guardiola's disposal, and although he has played centrally on four occasions so far this season (once in the Champions League, once in the Community Shield and twice in the EFL Cup), he is yet to make his Premier League debut.
Oliver Thomas
