MANCHESTER, ENGLAND -- Pep Guardiola admitted Sergio Aguero is struggling with an injury problem following Manchester City's 2-0 win over Brighton on Saturday.
Aguero scored City's crucial second goal on 65 minutes before he was substituted for Gabriel Jesus. And after the match, Guardiola said Aguero is not guaranteed to feature in the Champions League against Hoffenheim or at Liverpool next week.
"Sergio is struggling a bit with some problems in his foot," Guardiola said.
"He is not 100 percent. He has not recovered from what happened against Newcastle and we spoke about playing about 60 minutes and we were lucky he scored at the right moment."
City now face a crucial game against Hoffenheim on Tuesday after they lost their Champions League opener at home to Lyon. Then they travel to title rivals Liverpool on Sunday and Guardiola said Aguero is a doubt.
"It is a problem but he needs time," Guardiola added. "Now we have two games left before the international break and hopefully he can do these two and then make a final recovery. But he's not in his best condition right now physically because of the problem in his foot."
The victory maintained the pressure on Liverpool and Chelsea and Guardiola believes his side are close to playing their best football of last season when they won the title with a record 100 points.
"Yes, [we are playing like that] most of the time," Guardiola said. "In some situations, even better.
"Kyle [Walker] is learning a lot to play a bit more inside so after what happened last season we have fears to drop points in this part of the season.
"We dropped points at Wolves because they are a good side but in general, all the performance was quite good. But it is just September, two games before the international break will be so important for us, for the rest of the season. With that spirit, the way we play, everybody is focused."