Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has shared a major update about his team fitness for the Premier League clash against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Having failed to win a game in their last seven matches, City got back to winning ways this midweek with a 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest. However, Phil Foden missed the midweek win due to bronchitis.
Guardiola has now revealed that the England International and Nathan Ake have been added to the list of Manchester City’s absentees for Saturday’s Premier League clash against Crystal Palace.
The City boss revealed that Foden will not feature at Selhurst Park – with no timescale on his recovery either – nor will Ake but Akanji who was substituted during the win over Nottingham Forest will be assessed.
Manchester City’s Nathan Ake is attended to by medical staff during the Premier League match against Nottingham (Photo by Martin Rickett/PA Images via Getty Images)
“He’s not ready,” the Spaniard said of the England international during a pre-match press conference on Friday. “Nathan is out; Manu we’ll see.”
As a result, Foden and Ake join John Stones, Mateo Kovacic, Oscar Bobb and Rodri as City’s list of absentees against the Eagles.
Meanwhile, Guardiola is planning to be careful with Kevin De Bruyne to avoid any setbacks with the Belgium international following his first start since September against Forest.
“We don’t have many players so we’ll see,” the City boss added.
“[It took] a long time to come back. With a game every three days, we’ll see how he reacts to this amount of games.”
