Netherlands international Nathan Ake has been backed to make his Manchester City debut against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday night with Pep Guardiola without Aymeric Laporte.
Guardiola confirmed that he will be without Laporte and star striker Sergio Aguero for the Citizens’ Premier League curtain-raiser at Molineux, as the French centre-half only began full training on Friday after testing positive for Coronavirus upon reporting back for training.
Aguero will also miss the Black Country trip having so far only trained individually, as he bids to build fitness in his knee following the injury sustained against Burnley in June that required surgery.
Summer signing Ake is now expected to step into the Sky Blues’ backline in place of the absent £54million-rated Laporte, with the Evening Standard tipping the former AFC Bournemouth star to earn his competitive Manchester City debut alongside Fernandinho, Benjamin Mendy and Kyle Walker.
It is also expected that Gabriel Jesus will lead the offensive line with support from Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez on the wings, while Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin de Bruyne and Rodri make up the midfield three and Ederson makes his 110th Premier League outing in goal.
What will the result be at Wolves on Monday night?
Win
Draw
Loss
Ake has so far had to wait patiently on the sidelines to make his Man City debut, having arrived in a £40m transfer at the start of August only to see the start of our 2020/21 campaign be pushed back a week as a result of our involvement in the Champions League.
Competing in the final rounds of the UEFA competition meant the Sky Blues could not take part in the opening weekend of Premier League fixtures last week, as the top-flight had promised it’s 20 sides a minimum 30-day rest period following the final game of the prolonged 19/20 campaign.
Ake started all 29 of his Premier League appearances for Bournemouth as the Cherries were relegated last term, in which the 5 ft 10 centre-half recorded two goals, two assists, four clean sheets and played on average 0.2 key balls from 36.6 accurate passes while making 1.1 tackles, 1.2 interceptions, 5.1 clearances and winning 3.7 duels (1.6 ground, 2.1 aerial), per SofaScore.