It’s still early days in the Premier League season, but Manchester City are trailing to Liverpool on the table after three games as they dropped points against Tottenham Hotspur. The Citizens weren’t overly active in the transfer market, but they made some crucial signings, particularly in the form of Rodri.
However, they failed to land a replacement for Vincent Kompany who departed the club in the summer. City were heavily linked with Harry Maguire, but the Leicester defender went on to join arch-rivals Manchester United. City have just three front line defenders for this season as they have got the likes of John Stones, Nicolas Otamendi and Aymeric Laporte.
Good news for Manchester City
Guardiola was dealt a blow early on in the season as John Stones suffered a muscle problem after appearing in the first game of the campaign against West Ham United. City conceded three goals in the next two games. Good news for City now is that Stones is back in training (Manchester Evening News) for the first time since the opening game of the season.
It is not yet clear whether he would be back available for the Brighton game. We will anyway head into an international break after the upcoming weekend so Stones should become match fit after the international break.
Guardiola’s Stones and Otamendi conundrum
Once Stones is fit, he will likely start over Otamendi. To be fair to the Argentine, he has done well at the back in Stones’ absence, and it would be slightly harsh to drop him. However, the South American defender tends to go into rash challenges sometimes, and he hardly featured last season when Guardiola had four centre backs to choose from at his disposal.
Stones’ time at City has also involved lots of ups and downs. The English defender has made some glaring errors as well so the jury is still out on who would be the best partner for Laporte. With Champions League football set to begin soon and other cup competitions coming up, Guardiola will like to have all his three defenders fit and available for the season.
The fans and the club would be glad that Stones wasn’t out with a long term injury and he should be back sooner rather than later. Last season, the 25-year-old made 20 starts in the Premier League and Guardiola often rotated him and Kompany. With the Belgian now away, the Englishman will hope to secure his place alongside Laporte for the rest of the campaign.
