Forgotten Man City star can shake up Pep Guardiola plans in defence

Lee Carsley mentioned two or three changes from his first line-up as England manager, and it would be no surprise if one of those was to bring John Stones into the XI.

A late substitute against Ireland, Stones played in all eight matches at the European Championship in the summer and is widely regarded as England's best defender. With just 45 minutes of football at City this season before the international fixtures, the England matches could have helped Stones to play his way in to Pep Guardiola's plans again.

City will certainly hope so. That performance in the 2023 Champions League final will go down as an all-timer, yet England have seen more from Stones than City have for some time now.

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A starter in eight of England's last nine matches, the former Barnsley defender has managed just one in City's last nine. To get his last nine starts up for the club, you have to go back to February 20 - nearly seven months ago.

Stones at his best will get into any team in world football, and makes the best team in world football considerably better. His ability and intelligence with his hybrid role can give City more control of games than they can manage without him.

They have had to manage without him at his best for quite some time though, and in that period they have managed very well. Manu Akanji and Ruben Dias are excellent together in defence, Kyle Walker laid claim to the right-back spot for most of last season and Rico Lewis - the youngster who introduced the role that Stones made his own in the Treble campaign - has grabbed it with both hands at