Manchester City's defensive options for the Premier League trip to Crystal Palace have been strengthened as Joao Cancelo and Nathan Ake returned to training.
Cancelo missed the Champions League draw with Sporting in the week due to illness, with under-23 captain CJ Egan-Riley playing at right-back instead. Ake has been missing for two games with a minor injury picked up in the FA Cup at Peterborough.
With Ruben Dias a more longer-term absentee, City's options at the back were extremely limited, but the return of Cancelo and Ake to training on Saturday will come as a big boost to Pep Guardiola.
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The City boss had said on Thursday that any absent players from the Sporting game would be assessed over the weekend to see if they could feature against Palace, so having two more bodies in training suggested Cancelo and Ake may be able to play some part.
Also back after a month out of action was goalkeeper Zack Steffen, who posted a picture to Instagram of himself training with the caption: "Back to Work."
And Cole Palmer, missing for two months after picking up an injury in the FA Cup third round at Swindon, was another welcome face back in training as City's injury list was shortened drastically on Saturday.
Romeo Lavia, missing recently for the first team and EDS, was another player back in training.
Now, only Dias remains missing from training as Guardiola starts to prepare his side for 10 remaining 'finals' in the Premier League, as well as FA Cup and Champions League quarter-finals.
The improved state of the first-team squad perhaps explains the involvement of Egan-Riley, Sam Edozie, James McAtee and Liam Delap in the under-23s' big win at Crystal Palace in the Premier League 2 on Saturday. However, centre-back Luke Mbete trained with the first team instead, as did Kayky, hinting at his possible use as cover on Monday.
The four youngsters who played on Saturday were involved in the squad against Sporting but were allowed to represent the EDS as they took a huge step towards retaining their league title this weekend. Delap scored twice in a 2-1 win, both times assisted by McAtee, and their involvement may limit the amount they can play against Palace's senior side on Monday.
In total, 22 players were spotted in training across pictures and social media posts on Saturday. They were:
Ederson, Steffen, Cancelo, Stones, Laporte, Ake, Walker, Zinchenko, Mbete, Fernandinho, Rodri, Bernardo, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Lavia, Grealish, Foden, Sterling, Jesus, Mahrez, Palmer, Kayky.
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