Kevin De Bruyne revealed that James McAtee offered Manchester City a fresh spark on a rare appearance that will give Pep Guardiola food for thought.

McAtee opened Leicester City up to engineer a crucial second goal during a 24-minute cameo in Sunday’s much-needed victory.

It was only the 22-year-old’s third Premier League game of the season as the likes of Bayer Leverkusen watch his situation closely ahead of the January transfer window.

Guardiola praised McAtee for grasping his chance and admitted that his treatment of the youngster has been ‘unfair’, while De Bruyne insisted that the academy graduate gives City something different.

‘Obviously he's not played that much but Leicester was important - for a young player to come in and give us a bit of energy,’ De Bruyne said.

‘To give us a bit of a bright spark will do him good but also for us. Maybe he gives Pep a little more confidence to play him. It can only be a good thing. He's calm. He's got a really good quality.’

Guardiola added: ‘I said to Txiki (Begiristain) that I know it's unfair because we asked (him) to stay and I didn't give him the minutes he deserved, but I always had the feeling he could play with us. All the players, if you want to ask something, on the green is the best place to show it. Macca has proven it.’

City won just their second game of the last 14 in all competitions to nudge closer towards the top four and De Bruyne has charted their problems long before the start of November.

The Belgian believes that the champions were counting the cost of fatigue and injuries in the earlier months of the campaign, meaning many have been overworked.

‘For some of the players it's really hard - it's been that kind of season,’ he added. ‘The first four weeks was all right, then we came into a rhythm where we were struggling and people were playing too many games.

‘But they have to do it because if you don't have anyone else, you have to play. They took the burden, hopefully after New Year people come back and we get back into a rhythm as a team. That will help.

‘I think obviously Pep was a bit more down than usual, but I don't think it was a lot of difference. You can't change yourself after having a bad moment.

‘We've had so many good moments, we know how to win games. But at the moment we haven't won, it happens and you have to accept other people are also good and they are maybe in a better moment. You have to do your job, that's what we're trying, and hopefully it gets better.’