Manchester City continued their winning start to the Premier League season with a 4-0 victory over AFC Bournemouth at the Etihad Stadium.
Ilkay Gundogan started the scoring, with Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden and an own goal - caused by Joao Cancelo's trickery - completing the rout. Backing up a dominant 2-0 win against West Ham the week prior, it has quite literally been a perfect start to the Blues' title defence.
Before the season kicked off, however, some supporters were concerned about the depleted options at centre-back. Pep Guardiola confirmed earlier this month that Aymeric Laporte had to have post-season knee surgery, with the Spaniard out of action until at least September.
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John Stones was also struggling with an ankle knock towards the end of last season and, to make matters worse, was unable to join the rest of the first-team squad on pre-season duty. He instead flew with the rest of the EDS squad to Croatia and gained some valuable minutes on the field.
The England international featured for the first time at the weekend, replacing Ruben Dias midway through the second half and completing the rest of the game without issue. After forming such a formidable partnership in the 2020/21 title-winning campaign, fans are desperate to see Stones alongside Dias once more.
However, because of some stellar performances, it's going to be hard to displace Nathan Aké at the moment.
The Dutchman was linked with a switch to Chelsea all summer and looked like a move was possible, before Thomas Tuchel's side decided to instead pursue other targets. Aké has essentially been fourth choice for his so far two-year stay at the Etihad, but
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