Manu Akanji gives honest Man City verdict after 'wild' John Stones test

Manu Akanji was happier when he moved back into Manchester City's defence during their 4-4 draw with Chelsea.

Akanji was one of a few names suggested by Pep Guardiola as capable of playing the John Stones role moving between defence and midfield with the England international suffering a recurrence of his hip injury in midweek. With Nathan Ake also sidelined in training days before the game, Akanji was the prime candidate to step in at Stamford Bridge and did just that.

It was an accomplished performance overall from Akanji on a difficult day for the defence that saw Raheem Sterling and Cole Palmer impress against their former club. However, the Swiss international admitted after the game that he felt better after the break when changes made by Guardiola meant that he was more often located at the back than in the middle.

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“We changed it a little bit – we built up with the back four, I dropped deeper, and I felt better in there. We had a little bit more control, but it was still pretty wild," he said.

“We came here to get the three points, but we got one. It was a really wide game, back and forth, maybe we should have done better in some situations. We did some individual mistakes and didn’t have much control of the game like we normally have.

"It was a game with a lot of transitions – for us and for them. We will analyse it and hopefully do better in the next home game against Liverpool.”