Manchester City vs Brighton: Kevin De Bruyne says he will not reach level of last season in quadruple hunt

Kevin De Bruyne does not believe that he will be back to his very best before the end of Manchester City's season.

De Bruyne suffered two separate knee ligament injuries in the first half of the campaign and has completed just just three sets of 90 minutes since August.

The Belgian impressed in Wednesday’s win over Cardiff though, scoring and playing the duration, and he now travels to Wembley with City aiming to reach the FA Cup final.

If Wednesday is to mark the start of a return to form for De Bruyne, he has timed it perfectly, with Pep Guardiola’s side aiming to win an unprecedented quadruple.

But when asked if he may be able to reach the level of performance which saw him named City’s 2017-18 player of the year, he was sceptical.

“No, probably not,” De Bruyne said. “Not compared with last year. I don't know what my level is going to be but to be fair I don't really care.

“Now it's the business end I just need to do what I can do to help the team win games. If that means playing five games or 10 games, I'll take it all. It's been that kind of season.

“Last year, I could do it every three days for almost 60 or 70 games. I can't reach that tally anymore.

“It's only if everything goes right, like 13 or 14 games. I give everything I have and hopefully in the end we can lift a few titles.”

De Bruyne admitted to feeling frustrated during his time on the sidelines and dismissed the suggestion that his lay-off may have left him feeling ‘fresher’ in these final months.

“No, not really. I feel sometimes my season had double the length of other players because every time you need to be in, you need to make almost double the hours,” he said.

“You never have a day off because you need to work on your recovery. It's more draining than to play in the end.”

And yet a stop-start season could end in ultimate glory if City become the first English club to win four major honours in a single season.

“It's like 12 or 13 cup games,” De Bruyne said. “It makes it exciting. In the end maybe we lose everything but at least we are here at this stage.

“To come to the semi-final, we just have to play one game and then you can rest the FA Cup until the end of the season.

“For me personally I've not been there yet, I've not won it. It would be nice to go to the final and compete for a title but we will be sharp on Saturday.”

De Bruyne added: “I think it's important to show you want to compete for every title. It is tough and to do it you need everything.

“You also need a little bit of luck, good form and you need to play well. We did that for the last few years and it's good to see that everyone is competing at a high level.”