"It's simple. They are players who can win games on their own," Guardiola said on February 9 at a press conference ahead of the Premier League match against Everton. "When a player scores 60 goals, a player makes thousands, millions of assists, that wins you games. You don't need to go to Harvard or Yale to understand that."

Last season, Haaland exploded with 52 goals in 53 matches in all competitions, helping Man City win the treble of Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup. The Norwegian striker just missed two months due to a foot injury and returned when he started in the 3-1 win at Brentford on February 5. Despite the long-term injury, Haaland still leads the Premier League's top scorer list with 14 goals, equal to Liverpool's Mohamed Salah.

De Bruyne, meanwhile, missed five months of action with a hamstring injury and returned in the 5-0 FA Cup win over Huddersfield last month - coming off the bench to set up Jeremy Doku's winner. The Belgian then contributed a goal and an assist in the 3-2 win over Newcastle, took the corner that led to Nathan Ake's only goal against Tottenham in the FA Cup last-16, and then set up Julian Alvarez in the 3-1 win over Burnley and Phil Foden in the win over Brentford earlier this week.

Before his injury, De Bruyne scored 96 goals and provided 358 assists in all competitions, helping Man City win five Premier League titles, four League Cups, two FA Cups, one Community Shield and one Champions League. Last season alone, he contributed 10 goals and 31 assists in 49 games.

Phil Foden has also been in fine form this season, scoring 14 goals in all competitions, including a hat-trick against Brentford. Guardiola is pleased with his form and believes the England midfielder will continue to improve. "If he wants to improve, he will improve," said the Spaniard. "That's life. And I think Foden wants to do that."

Man City are currently second in the Premier League with 49 points, two points behind Liverpool but with a game in hand. They will face Luton Town in the fifth round of the FA Cup on February 27 and Copenhagen in the last 16 of the Champions League.

But Guardiola believes there is a 99.99% chance that City will not win the treble like last season. "It's a fairy tale. It's very complicated," the 53-year-old said. "If it was easy, Man Utd would have done it before. The players know how difficult it is. What I like is that we are still competing for titles and hopefully we can continue to do that until the end of the season."

Hong Duy