Ruben Dias gives Man City a timely boost amid injury problems

It tells you everything you need to know about Manchester City's injury problems that Pep Guardiola was left this week grateful for a deadline day signing that hadn't been planned.

A centre-back was not part of the strategy for the summer with other areas prioritised, only for an opportunity to sign Manuel Akanji to present itself in the final week as Guardiola was trying to make do without Nathan Ake as well as Aymeric Laporte. Since the deal was done, Kyle Walker and John Stones have also been sidelined.

Akanji was granted his first start for the club after just a few training sessions, one of three former Dortmund players to take to the pitch against Sevilla along with Sergio Gomez and Erling Haaland. As well as Akanji played, the indication from Guardiola was that Ake was perhaps being saved for the weekend.

Also read: Man City player ratings vs Sevilla

One man who has had to get used to more rest over the last 12 months has been Ruben Dias. The Portugal centre-back played virtually every minute of his first campaign as he transformed a City defence from wobbling to watertight to see them coast to a league title that hadn't looked likely in the early weeks of the 2020/21 campaign.

Last season his supremacy weakened a little bit, both within the club and outwards: Stones and Laporte both produced terrific spells of form, while Dias seemed to drop his level from the superhuman standard he had entered English football with. The spread into this season, with the former Benfica man not picked for a Premier League game despite being available - something that would have been unheard of a few weeks ago.

Against Sevilla, he took on the left-sided role next to Akanji that doesn't play to his strengths as much as it does