Matheus Nunes seems to gaining Pep Guardiola’s trust for seemingly the first time during his stint at Manchester City.
After City’s 1-0 win against Southampton, Guardiola lauded Nunes for his performance on the left-wing.
For the first time during his spell at Manchester City, Matheus Nunes has now been handed four consecutive starts in all competitions.
Last season, the former Wolves speedster started just five Premier League games; having almost halved that tally this campaign already.
In August, it was reported that Nunes’ dream was to succeed at Manchester City despite Atletico Madrid’s reported interest in signing him on loan during the summer.
Nunes is one of Manchester City’s most in-form players at the moment.
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This season, the 26-year-old has three goals and four assists in 11 appearances across all competitions.
The versatile midfielder is showing his value amongst the big names at the Etihad Stadium this term.
As per Squawka, no player created more chances than Nunes (five) in Manchester City’s 2-1 defeat against AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League this weekend.
Pep Guardiola will be over the moon if he comes across this particular statistic.
In Kevin De Bruyne’s absence, Manchester City have lacked their usual sense of creativity — with players such as Josko Gvardiol, Mateo Kovacic and Erling Haaland often scoring wonder-goals this campaign.
Moments of individual brilliance such as Gvardiol’s brilliant goals against Bournemouth, Wolves and Newcastle, Jeremy Doku’s belter of a strike against Fulham as well as Kovacic’s second goal in the same game have bailed City out.
While Haaland’s three missed big chances against Bournemouth must have frustrated him, in reality, perhaps only one of those chances could really lead to the star striker possibly regretting his attempt at goal.
Pep Guardiola, who must have been wondering how to get the best out of the Norwegian during the contest would have observed that it was Nunes who put in the cross that he volleyed into Mark Travers’ path.
Guardiola made a shock claim about De Bruyne that while he could have played for 10 or 15 minutes against the Cherries, he chose to rest him due to the intense nature of the encounter.
Until the Belgian international is deemed fully fit and ready to go, Nunes’ latest chance-creating exploits could give the Catalan the confidence that City will continue to score goals despite the midfield maestro’s absence.
Guardiola named himself as “the problem” behind why Nunes hasn’t played regularly
In the aftermath of the Sky Blues’ 5-0 annihilation of Sparta Prague in the Champions League, Pep Guardiola commented on Nunes by naming himself as “the problem” behind why he has not started regularly for much of his time at the Etihad Stadium.
Guardiola initially said: “Really good. When he scored the goal, how happy were all his teammates? He’s incredibly beloved, honestly. He’s a lovely guy.”
“He has specific qualities; if you can run in transition, he’s as fast as Haaland. He’s unbelievable when he runs 30 or 40 metres, nobody can stop him.”
Pep Guardiola added: “He has special qualities that we don’t have, that’s why we need him. He can play in many, many roles. His generosity in [going] backwards, defensively”
“The only problem he has is just one; his manager maybe doesn’t give him the minutes that he deserves.”
Based on the recent form Nunes is in and how many chances he created against Bournemouth, Pep Guardiola could be set to hand him a run of games as a starter.
