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.
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).