Aguero is not aggressive, claims Guardiola

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola believes Sergio Aguero is not an aggressive player despite his second lengthy ban of the season.

Earlier this week, Aguero was handed a four-match suspension by the Football Association (FA) following his red card for a shocking tackle on Chelsea's David Luiz towards the end of City's 3-1 defeat on Saturday.

The Argentine, who has 10 goals from 12 Premier League outings this season, has already missed three games after the FA took retrospective action for an elbow on West Ham's Winston Reid.

Despite those two high-profile indiscretions, Guardiola insists Aguero is not an antagonistic character.

"Score a a lot of goals - that's my advice to him," he said. "Sergio's not a player to be aggressive.

"He accepts the punishment. You just have to accept it and try not to make it happen again."

Kelechi Iheanacho is set to fill Aguero's role at the pinnacle of City's attack during his suspension and the 20-year-old has said he has his team-mates support.

“Before we played Celtic [he said] that it’s up to me now to fill that gap, to carry the team along,” he said. “He’s telling me I should do very well and they are words of encouragement from him. So I’m going to do it.

“It’s going to be a great responsibility for me. I need to really work hard to help the team get these points we need in the Premier League.

Pablo Zabaleta, meanwhile, believes the Nigeria international is ready to fill the void left by Aguero.

Iheanacho has scored three goals in nine Premier League appearances this season, as well as two in two in the Champions League.