Team sheet anxiety is a particular feature of the Pep Guardiola era for Manchester City fans and, recently, John Stones has been at the heart of some of his most interesting calls.
For January’s crunch clash with Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium, Guardiola made the surprise call to bench defensive leader Ruben Dias and pair Stones with Aymeric Laporte at the heart of his defence.
An early slip that almost let Romelu Lukaku in aside, the England centre-back was imperious in a 1-0 win, although he has shone when deployed outside of his specialist position.
