Nathan Ake was a notable absentee in Manchester City’s defeat to Tottenham Hotspur over the weekend Pep Guardiola revealed why. The 25-year-old picked up a hamstring injury on international duty with the Netherlands and didn’t recover in time to feature on Saturday.
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Guardiola said in City’s pre-match press conference: “Except for Nathan and Fernandinho, the rest have started to come back.” Ake has made six appearances in all competitions since joining from Bournemouth over the summer, scoring one goal.
The Dutch international had been a regular under Guardiola in the first few weeks of the season, playing for 90 minutes in our 3-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers (September 21), 90 minutes in our 5-2 defeat to Leicester City (September 27), 19 minutes in our 1-1 draw with Leeds United (October 3) and 90 minutes in our 1-0 win over Arsenal (October 17).
Ake hasn’t featured in the Premier League for a month, however. He was left out of the matchday squad in our 1-1 draw with West Ham United (October 24) and was an unused substitute in our 1-0 win over Sheffield United (October 31) and 1-1 draw with Liverpool (November 8).
Aymeric Laporte and Ruben Dias have formed a partnership in defence that might see Ake struggle to get his spot back when fit. Time will tell.
In other news, here’s why Fernandinho missed Man City’s 2-0 defeat to Tottenham