"I had a lot of doubts because that position is for Aymer," said Pep Guardiola when explaining why he played Manuel Akanji at left-back for the first time in his Manchester City career, in the biggest game of their season.
With Nathan Ake injured and Joao Cancelo out on loan, City had something of a left-back dilemma against Arsenal - yet the obvious solution was to play Aymeric Laporte on his favoured side.
Laporte, though, was left on the bench for the 13th time this year from 22 games that he has been available for. Of the nine he has started, three have come in cup competitions and four have been directly before bigger games that he has sat out.
After playing such a key role in defence for the last two seasons, Laporte feels firmly out of favour this year. ALSO READ: How Man City view Premier League title and treble chances after Arsenal win His wider stats for this season suggest the problem has been persisting for longer than just 2023.