"Making me feel a bit shaky", "That's a surprise" - Manchester City fans react as star included in XI to face Sunderland

Manchester City fans are left surprised as Pep Guardiola has named Nathan Ake in their starting XI against Sunderland. The fans are questioning the manager's decision to play the 30-year-old in the Premier League match.

Guardiola has stuck with Gianluigi Donnarumma in goal after the 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest. Matheus Nunes and Nico O'Reilly are the fullbacks today, with Nathan Ake coming in to partner Ruben Dias in the middle.

Nico Gonzalez is in the pivot despite Rodri making the matchday squad, with Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden to support him. Rayan Cherki and Savinha are the wingers, and Erling Haaland leads the attack as expected.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), many Manchester City fans questioned the decision to start Ake and posted:

Pep Guardiola heaped praise on Sunderland, hailing them for their season so far despite being a newly promoted side. He added that the Black Cats have assembled a good squad and said:

“We faced them a few weeks ago [when we won 3-0 at the Etihad] and they’ve had an incredible season. If you are promoted, you can continue with the same group of players or do what they have done. 14 new signings it’s not easy to assemble everything. They’ve done it well." “Tomorrow is the last game of the first leg [of the season] and we play against Chelsea, but being in that position speaks for itself. They are tough. The crowd is always, I remember my first season going there, unbelievable. They’ve beaten Newcastle. Arsenal, Villa could not win there so they are tough but we at the same time we are ready.”

Manchester City need the win to close the gap on Arsenal, who extended the lead at the top of the table to five points.

Pep Guardiola on Manchester City squad ahead of Sunderland clash

Pep Guardiola has confirmed that five players are out of Manchester City's Premier League clash against Sunderland. Mateo Kovacic, John Stones, and Oscar Bobb are ruled out, while Rayan Air-Nouri and Omar Marmoush are away on international duty. He said:

“Rodri has come back. Maybe he can play a few minutes. We need it desperately. Doku maybe. John and Oscar no. We had seven or eight injured players and two at the AFCON. Five players injured are coming back a little bit, so in terms of squad we are not in our best right now but in terms of points we are better than last season.”

Manchester City beat Sunderland 3-0 earlier this season.

Edited by Sripad