Kalvin Phillips is about to find out exactly where he stands at Man City

Regardless of how many times Pep Guardiola says every player will be important in the remaining games of the season, the fact is Kalvin Phillips simply hasn't been at all.

The beaming smile on his face after every Manchester City win might suggest otherwise but Phillips has endured a very difficult debut season since his summer transfer. Early injuries hampered his progress in learning to play in Guardiola's side and he has hardly had a kick since.

The midfielder has played a meagre 404 minutes all season and has made as many starts for England over the last year as he has for his new club. Even the vast majority of his substitute cameos have been sub-10-minute affairs with the Blues three goals to the good.

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It's little surprise given the most minutes he has played in a Premier League game this season, 37 minutes against Leicester, were calamitous. Guardiola probably thought City were safe while 3-0 up but Phillips was poor for Leicester's consolation and the Foxes had great opportunities to draw level.

It's understandable why Guardiola doesn't feel he can trust Phillips - a player off the pace from his teammates and one who seems out of his depth in the side - to play a major part in important fixtures. But equally, Phillips can't be blamed too harshly for not knowing what's demanded of him when he's played so few minutes for his new manager.

It famously takes a lot of Guardiola's new signings at least a year to get to grips with his methods but that's with regular playing time. Even Rodri struggled at times in his first year. Phillips was already playing catch-up due to his time on the sidelines and has had no opportunity to make up the lost