Nathan Ake is enjoying arguably the best period of his Manchester City career, and it's largely his own doing.
After impressing on City's pre-season tour of the United States the Dutch centre-back has played the full 90 minutes in both of City's competitive games so far this season. If Guardiola sticks to his rule of not dropping players unless they give him a reason to, it doesn't look like Ake will find himself on the bench any time soon.
Much of the two years the 27-year-old has spent at the club has not been easy. The arrival of Ruben Dias in September 2020, just weeks after Ake was signed from Bournemouth, shunted him down the pecking order and deprived him of the minutes he needed to build a run of form and confidence.
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When he made cameo appearances from the bench or was afforded a rare start, City's defence looked a shell of what it was with Dias and John Stones at the back. Ake reportedly considered leaving in 2021, and despite putting in some solid performances towards the end of last season, he agreed personal terms with Chelsea this summer.
City were open - reluctantly so - to letting Ake leave, but Chelsea never came in with a suitable offer. The deal fell through and the defender stayed put. Now he's in the team and showing no signs of surrendering his place.
Of course, circumstance has played its part. Stones and Aymeric Laporte missed the trip to the US due to documentation and injury issues, respectively, handing Ake a chance to stake his claim for a starting berth. Laporte would likely be starting ahead of him were he not ruled out until at least the start of September. But Ake still had to put in the hard work to impress Guardiola, and based on recent performances he is arguably City's best defender right now.
He was impressive in the 2-0 defeat of West Ham on Sunday, although the way that City set up when in possession negated the slight weakness in Ake's game. Of City's four senior centre-backs, he is probably the weakest on the ball. That's not to say he is bad, just the others are so good.
City's 2-2-3-3 system at the London Stadium, with full-backs Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo forming a double midfield pivot and Rodri often dropping deep to collect the ball, gave Ake plenty of passing options. The incisive passing and vision of Laporte or Stones was not needed, as Ake always had at least one serviceable passing lane available to him.
He did not look quite so comfortable in the 3-1 loss to Liverpool the weekend before, an opponent whose intense press is hard to play out of without elite ball-playing defenders. That game highlighted the importance of Stones and Laporte, suggesting that when City face a similarly high-pressing Tottenham in a month's time, Guardiola may opt to bring in Stones despite Ake's good form.
With a week between each of City's next three league fixtures - Bournemouth, Newcastle and Crystal Palace - there is little need for Guardiola to rotate his team. Ake should keep his place, but after that, the decision might be made more on a game-by-game basis.
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