Man City and England star's unnoticed steel has handed Pep Guardiola a Champions League boost

Team sheet anxiety is a particular feature of the Pep Guardiola era for Manchester City fans and, recently, John Stones has been at the heart of some of his most interesting calls.

For January’s crunch clash with Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium, Guardiola made the surprise call to bench defensive leader Ruben Dias and pair Stones with Aymeric Laporte at the heart of his defence.

An early slip that almost let Romelu Lukaku in aside, the England centre-back was imperious in a 1-0 win, although he has shone when deployed outside of his specialist position.

Guardiola’s announced XI for December’s meeting with Leeds United prompted plenty of head-scratching. Was this the return of a back three?

To the surprise of many, Stones lined up at right-back as the Blues romped to a 7-0 win. He reprised the role in last week’s 2-0 victory against Brentford, a call that took on added significance as City prepare to face Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League last-16 on Tuesday without the suspended Kyle Walker.

You might have noticed a common thread through those Leeds, Chelsea and Brentford wins. Nil.

In each of those matches, the opposition failed to breach City and this is usually the case when Stones is around.

Across his eight Premier League appearances this season, City have only conceded once with Stones on the field. That was after he came off the bench against Crystal Palace with City 1-0 down and reduced to 10 men by Laporte’s red card.

Stones excelled that day, showcasing his famed range of passing from deep, but the depleted Blues were unable to find an equaliser and Conor Gallagher scored on the break for the Eagles in stoppage time.

Aside from that, there has been absolutely no change for domestic rivals with Stones