Manchester City receive major defensive fitness boost as centre-back returns to training following injury | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola and his first-team squad has received a significant boost on Thursday with the return of Manuel Akanji to training following injury.

The Premier League champions have been hampered by fitness and injury problems throughout the ongoing season with performances on the pitch directly affected leading to a string of disappointing results.

Rodri and Oscar Bobb have been the longest-standing injured stars throughout the season so far, having sustained a double knee injury in September and a leg bone fracture prior to the first Premier League game of the season respectively.

As such, City have seen themselves drop down to fifth in the Premier League and 22nd in the UEFA Champions League having recorded just one win in their last 11 matches across all competitions in recent weeks.

But ahead of the club’s return to action following a hugely disappointing 1-2 defeat to Manchester United last Sunday afternoon, there has been a significant update from the training ground in terms of returning personnel.

Following recovery from a pelvic and abdomen problem, City Xtra understand that Manuel Akanji trained as normal with his Manchester City teammates at the City Football Academy on Thursday afternoon.

Additionally, it is also understood that John Stones continued to train with the first-team group after returning from his own injury problem to feature in the matchday squad for City against Ruben Amorim’s side last weekend.

It remains to be seen how much either player can be involved this weekend when Pep Guardiola’s side travel to Villa Park for a meeting against Unai Emery’s Aston Villa, and an update on their fitness levels is likely to be provided on Friday afternoon.

City will be desperate to make a statement in Birmingham and return to winning ways against a tough opposition, falling nine points behind Liverpool in the Premier League table, with Arne Slot’s side having a game in hand, too.

UPDATE: Manchester City have since released their batch of training session photographs from Thursday 19 December, confirming Manuel Akanji and John Stones’ presence during the session.

You can check out all the photos below!