Pep Guardiola hopes Jack Grealish has 'forgot' burglary ordeal suffered by fiancee Sasha Attwood & his family as he tells Man City star: We need you!

Pep Guardiola has urged Manchester City midfielder Jack Grealish to rediscover the incredible form he showed last season.

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• Guardiola hopes Grealish can return to form
• Midfielder faded from team since shocking burglary
• He has started just five out of City's last 19 games

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  WHAT HAPPENED?

  Grealish has played just 14 minutes out of City's last four matches in all competitions and has not completed a match since his family home was burgled on the same night he played against Everton. Guardiola admitted that the experience may have scarred the England international, although he hopes he has now overcome the shock.

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  WHAT GUARDIOLA SAID

  "I'm pretty sure for a few days [Grealish was affected]. Hopefully he forgot it but I am pretty sure. I would have been affected too," Guardiola told a press conference. "It's not easy what happened with him, his girlfriend and his family. I think he handled it really well. He's an incredible person with his humanity and here with the security people at the club and the people at his disposal they tried to help him. It happened. Lately he didn’t speak about that subject so hopefully he's fine."

• 'WE NEED JACK'

  "I'm always pleased with my players. It's not a big problem, the opposite. Now he is making steps to get his best and that's all. We need him, we need everyone and we need Jack," Guardiola added. "He has to demand himself to get back where he was especially last season and all the time in Villa. This season was not like last season, but he's getting better. I am looking forward to him being back to his best and giving him minutes."

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Grealish's dip in form pre-dates the burglary, however, as he has started only five of City's last 19 matches. He has had to compete with livewire winger Jeremy Doku and has been the victim of Guardiola re-jigging his midfield to accommodate Phil Foden, who started in the same attack against Brentford as Kevin De Bruyne and Julian Alvarez.