Nathan Ake of Manchester City requires medical attention after becoming injured during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Nottingham Forest
Nathan Ake will miss City's trip to Crystal Palace this weekend
Pep Guardiola has revealed that all of his Manchester City players are struggling with their fitness as injuries continue to blight their season.
The Blues will be without Nathan Ake for Saturday's trip to Crystal Palace, while Phil Foden is still absent with bronchitis. Manuel Akanji will be assessed before the game after coming off at half-time against Nottingham Forest with an injury. John Stones, Rodri, Mateo Kovacic and Oscar Bobb are out with long-term injuries.
But during his praise of Jack Grealish's performance in a central role against Forest, Guardiola said the 29-year-old's fate in the team depended on how he came through matches. Asked to expand on whether Grealish had a knock, the City manager suggested his entire team were currently struggling with fitness issues.
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"All the players are struggling for the fitness condition right now. With the injured players and the players who are fit. That why it depends how they’re going to feel next game," he said.
Guardiola cut a downbeat figure after Wednesday's 3-0 success against Forest because of the injuries Akanji and Ake picked up. He was in a similar mood on Friday as he previewed the game at Selhurst Park.
If Akanji isn't deemed fit enough to play, then Guardiola will have only Ruben Dias as a senior, regular centre-back option. Dias has only just returned from injury himself and has already played two full matches this week.
Grealish and Kevin De Bruyne have also been managing fitness issues of late and Guardiola has only been able to pick an unchanged team three times all season.
"I’d say in the past I rotated a lot. This season it’s because we don’t have it," he said. "We lost the two holding midfielders. Centre halves we didn’t have it.
"We had it back and now we’re back again. We have four defenders for tomorrow. It’s how you handle it, it’s an incredible challenge. You don’t win for a long time, you break it and now we have to continue."