Nathan Ake could be out for up to 11 weeks following successful surgery on a fracture in his left foot, Pep Guardiola has confirmed.
The Netherlands international was substituted at half-time of our FA Cup fifth round victory over Plymouth Argyle at the Etihad Stadium after aggravating the problem which has caused him discomfort throughout his career.
Speaking ahead of our Premier League clash at the City Ground in the 12:30 (UK) kick-off on Saturday 8 March, the City boss has put a timeframe on when he hopes to have Ake back in his squad.
“Ten weeks or 11 weeks they said to me,” Guardiola said his pre-match news conference.
“When it is surgery, it is pretty serious. When you have surgery it is because something wrong happened. Important is it is done. He has struggled. It happened.”
With John Stones and Manuel Akanji also ruled out, Guardiola is grateful to be able to call upon the services of Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis following their arrival in January.
Both are expected to be in the squad to face Forest on Saturday, where a victory would see us leapfrog our hosts into third place in the Premier League.
Uzbekistan international Khusanov had a difficult start on his debut against Chelsea, but quickly put the problem behind him in the 3-1 victory, and has showed his qualities on the pitch.
And Brazilian youngster Reis showed his huge potential with impressive performances in the FA Cup victories over Leyton Orient and Plymouth Argyle.
Guardiola also said that defenders from the Academy have also been training with the first team and made a good impression.
“The impact of Khusanov was really good,” he added. “Not the first minute against Chelsea but since then really good.
“Vitor was really good against Plymouth. Now some centre-backs from the Academy are coming to play with us.
“Some of the senior ones may be ready for the Club World Cup. we are unlucky but the club took the decision to sign in January and if we hadn’t, we wouldn’t be in a [good position].”
Nottingham Forest v City app coverage
The Official Man City App will have all bases covered of the Blues’ latest top-flight assignment.
Minute-by-minute text updates will begin in our Matchday Centre two hours before kick-off, while our Matchday Live show will begin at around 11:15 (UK).
Mark Crossley and Kit Symons will be the guests on the latest Matchday Live show, offering their expert insight before, during and after the action.
During the game you can also listen to live audio commentary from Alistair Mann and Michael Brown while our text commentary continues.
Make sure to have push notifications turned on as well, so you can be alerted to key moments in the action, including goals, red cards and the team news.
Short highlights will be available at 17:15 (UK) before extended and a full-match replay (via CITY+) can be accessed at midnight.