Joe Hart looks set to reclaim his place in goal for Manchester City's visit to Stoke on Saturday after taking part in training with the rest of Manuel Pellegrini's squad.
England's No 1 suffered a hamstring strain during City's 1-0 defeat by Juventus in the Champions League last week and missed the 3-1 win against Southampton.
He was also left out of the squad for Tuesday's Capital One Cup quarter-final win over Hull, but now looks set to return at the Britannia Stadium.
Hart, who was originally ruled out for 10 days by his manager, appears to have recovered after being pictured diving for shots and kicking a ball at the club's training ground on Thursday.
Willy Caballero started City's previous two games in the absence of Hart, but the Argentine is likely to be benched, with Richard Wright dropping out of City's matchday squad altogether.
Raheem Sterling believes summer signing De Bruyne, who scored twice in the midweek 4-1 win over Hull, can be a key player as City look to regain the title.
Asked whether the Belgian was similar to his former Liverpool team-mate Luis Suarez, Sterling said: 'Yes, most definitely.Every top team needs a player who scores and assists goals so regularly as Kevin does. That's what big players do and we're happy to have him at this football club.
'With Suarez, once he got in and around the box, you knew what he was capable of doing. Usually it ended with a goal. It's the same with Kevin. He looks for other players. Look at the assists he's got already, and he's got goals in him regularly as well.
'I didn't see him much at Chelsea, to be honest. Not many of us did. But if you saw him in Germany, the number of goals he was involved in, it was obvious he had quality.
'It's always a test for players to come to England, play regularly and contribute, but that's what he's done. Credit to him, he's been incredible.
'He's someone I work with every day and someone I get on really well with. We arrived in the same summer. And it's so good to have someone like that in the squad. He's a funny guy, quiet, gets on with everyone in the team.'