'Not one bit' - Kyle Walker defends Pep Guardiola selection calls in Man City draw vs Chelsea

Pep Guardiola's starting XI was not the reason for Manchester City's dropped points against Chelsea, captain Kyle Walker insists.

Injury and fitness concerns meant that Jack Grealish was ruled out against Chelsea, while Bernardo Silva and John Stones were not fit enough to start. In their place, Manuel Akanji, Jeremy Doku and Julian Alvarez started but struggled to have the same effect as the players they replaced.

City looked better when Bernardo came off the bench, finding an equaliser through Rodri. Ultimately, however, City slipped four points behind Liverpool with a game in hand. And while Walker couldn't hide his disappointment at the missed opportunity, he denied that City missed their absent players from the start.

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When asked if City missed Stones and Bernardo in the middle of the pitch, Walker replied: "No, not one bit. I think whoever's played this season, obviously, the result ain't gone the way that we wanted it to so everyone's looking for answers of why it's not gone that way, but whoever steps in, whoever plays in this team, nine times out of 10 does really well.

"We've got different players that have different strengths and different weaknesses. That's just football, everyone's not the same player in there. So whoever starts, whoever the manager puts, he feels that that's the right team to go and win the game.

"I think it was against Everton, I didn't start, Bernardo didn't start and Kevin didn't start. OK, that's what he felt was the team to go on and win the game, sometimes your subs make impacts and we came on and