Manchester City striker Erling Haaland will remain out of action until the end of January after suffering a foot injury, manager Pep Guardiola said.
City will face Newcastle United in the Premier League today, visit Tottenham Hotspur in the fourth round of the FA Cup on January 26 before hosting Burnley in the league on January 31.
Guardiola is hopeful that the 23-year-old Norwegian will be back in training during their camp in Abu Dhabi next week.
"It's the bone. It needs time," Guardiola told reporters ahead of the trip to St. James' Park.
"It's fine, but the doctors decided to stop for one week and maybe restart in Abu Dhabi. Hopefully, at the end of this month, he'll be ready. It was a little bit more than we expected in the beginning."
Haaland, the joint top scorer in the Premier League alongside Liverpool's Mohamed Salah with 14 goals, didn’t feature in City's last eight games in all competitions.
"We need him," Guardiola said. "Hopefully he can come back and play the last four or five months without a problem."
Swiss defender Manuel Akanji will also be on the sidelines until the end of the month but Guardiola provided a positive update on Kevin De Bruyne, with the Belgian set to return to the starting 11.
The 32-year-old, who suffered a hamstring injury on the first day of the season against Burnley, came on as a substitute in the FA Cup victory against Huddersfield last weekend.
Guardiola gave a positive response when asked if the midfielder could start at Newcastle.
"Yes. From what I saw yesterday I feel really good, he was dynamic, and the minutes he played was better than the training sessions before the Huddersfield game.
"He is getting better now, he will have a few days off after this game and can train in Abu Dhabi to be better for the next few months," he added.
City are third, five points behind leaders Liverpool, but have a game in hand and the manager is still optimistic about winning a fourth consecutive league title.
"How many points left? 18 or 19 games ... so obviously mathematically possible," the manager said.