Pep Guardiola says Nathan Ake's quality earned him a recall to the Manchester City starting line-up to take on Arsenal in a top-of-the-table clash at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday.
City beat Aston Villa at the weekend to move to within three points of Arsenal, knowing a win against Mikel Arteta's Gunners would see the Blues move to the top of the table for the first time since the second weekend of the campaign - albeit having played a game more than Arsenal.
To achieve that, Pep Guardiola made just one change to the side that beat Villa, with Nathan Ake replacing Aymeric Laporte in a back three, supported by Bernardo Silva and Rodri patrolling the defensive midfield areas.
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Bernardo drew praise for his unorthodox role last time out, and clearly did enough to impress his manager, as City look to keep Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli quiet on the Arsenal flanks.
Explaining his team selection - which also included Erling Haaland after his injury concerns - Guardiola said there wasn't much in his decision to pick Ake over Laporte.
The manager told Amazon Prime: "Another player could do it, every game is completely different. We know the quality of Nathan. We decide for this line up I could choose another one." On Haaland, Guardiola eased any injury concerns, adding: "Yesterday he was training and it was going well.
"It's a brilliant stadium, brilliant atmosphere, many years Arsenal wait for this moment. Mikel and his team completely change this team. At the same time, we spoke about that, they will create a lot of challenges we have to take."
Ake also spoke to Amazon, saying City are going to the Emirates aiming to top the league at full time.
"It's a big one, what we have to do if we want to come top of the league we have to win," Ake explained. "We'll do our best and it'll be a good game.
"Of course you want to win, its a different kind of game [to the FA Cup win].Playing away, electric atmosphere here. We have to be aggressive like last time and compete with them and go again. They have very good players up front, keep the ball really well. They fight a lot, work for everything. We have to match them. The manager told us to be brave with the ball, without the ball. Show we want to win the league."
While Guardiola joked that Ake would play at right-back when asked to divulge his defensive formation, Gunners boss Arteta admitted he couldn't initially decipher City's team sheet, while insisting Arsenal would be prepared for whatever system City use.
Arteta said: "No surprises, they were the possibilities, there was a possibility they could play a false nine like other big games. Whether Bernardo could play full-back or Rodri as centre-back, there are many options.
"This [control] is what we want to do but to do it against City, they are a difficult side. The game will have momentum, they will shift."
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