Man City's Rodri suspension nightmare truth emerges in huge Pep Guardiola title boost

Manchester City's reliance on Rodri over the past two years is well documented.

The midfielder has not played in a game that his team - club and country - has lost in for over 12 months. Since February 5, 2023 (1-0 defeat to Tottenham), the Spain international has not been bettered.

In that time frame he has won the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and is bidding to repeat a historic treble once again. Arsenal and Liverpool are pushing Pep Guardiola's side to the max this season and Rodri has continued to prove his importance.

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This season, Rodri has missed three games and City have lost all three. In the 29 other matches (28 of which he has started) they won 21 and drew seven.

Unsurprisingly, the holding midfielder tops the league's points-per-match metric with 2.5. After missing two Premier League games in September after a red card against Nottingham Forest, City lost to Wolves and Arsenal.

Ever since December, he has been walking a tightrope. Rodri picked up five yellow cards in his first 12 games and before the turn of the year, found himself on seven bookings in 18 games.

He later missed the 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa after carrying out a one-match ban. The threshold then shifts to ten yellows for most of the remainder of the season.

The Spaniard had seemed destined for another two-game suspension before the end of the season. However, with seven games left, there is no worry of losing his presence in midfield.

Rodri is currently on eight yellow cards in the Premier League but we are now just one game away from