MANCHESTER -- Pep Guardiola says they must be careful not to burn out Sergio Aguero as Manchester City try to cope without injured striker Gabriel Jesus for the next six weeks.
The Brazilian has been ruled out with a a medial collateral ligament injury leaving City with just Aguero and 18-year-old Academy product Brahim Diaz as recognised strikers.
Guardiola warned that the busy festive schedule put too much strain on his players and it's a concern for the Catalan coach that he could face around 10 more fixtures before Gabriel's return.
"Believe me, I would prefer Gabriel was here, but for this amount of games, we have one striker in Sergio," Guardiola told a news conference ahead of Saturday's FA Cup clash with Burnley.
"We have other options to play in that position in the squad, and of course, Sergio is going to play and play and play -- and hopefully can show us his top level that he has.
"Of course we are going to speak every day with him after the games and before the games about how he feels, because of course, when you have every three or four days some games, some minutes you are going to rest. Some games you're going to play, that's natural.
"We need Gabriel, we need Sergio, we need both, and now we will have maybe two months without Gabriel. Two months is a lot of games, so we just have one."
City have been linked with a January transfer window move for Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez as well as buying a new centre-back.
But Guardiola warned it is a difficult time to buy quality players and says he is happy to see out the rest of the season with his current squad if he needs to.
"We spoke about [transfers] before the injuries to Gabriel and Vincent [Kompany]. It's so difficult. If you ask for my opinion now as to if it will be possible, I don't know," he added.
"We have other options. Not like an out-and-out striker, but we have guys with the mentality to be around the box who can solve that problem."
City have also been trying to secure new deals for Gabriel and Kevin De Bruyne along with midfielder Fernandinho, who is out of contract at the end of the season.
"My last news is that 'Dinho is close, so close," Guardiola added.
"Gabriel and Kevin, I don't know. I think they made the first contact, but I don't know if it's close. 'Dinho, it was a long time ago that we started handling that."