Aymeric Laporte has never been more important to Man City after fantastic comeback

Pep Guardiola held his breath as Manchester City medics ran onto the pitch to treat Aymeric Laporte. The Spanish defender, their only fit centre-back looked in a world of pain after being clattered into by Wolves striker Raul Jimenez after playing the ball.

It took Laporte a while to get up, and even then he didn't look comfortable and would soon be substituted. Between then, he still found the energy and quality to stop Jimenez from racing in on goal as he cut the ball out for a corner.

City will hope that the injury is not too severe for Laporte. Even if it does rule him out of the final two games, it will not mar what has been a fine season for the defender - made an even better story by the fact he considered leaving after last season.

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In terms of performance, he has been right up there with the form he found in the 2018/19 campaign when they won the league. And with injuries to Ruben Dias and John Stones leaving him short of a natural partner, he has never been as important to the team as he has this season.

It can feel like going over the same ground writing about the same player week after week, game after game. Kevin De Bruyne merits exceptional treatment though to mark the phenomenal talent that he is. Not content with putting City ahead at Wolves in a crucial Premier League game, he basically got the assist himself for his second goal after following up his through-ball then unleashed an unstoppable effort to complete a hat-trick inside 24 minutes and all on his weaker foot.

In all competitions since the middle of December, the midfielder has scored 15 goals and assisted 12 from 27 starts. A timely reminder in the week that City