In Manchester City's win over Aston Villa on Sunday, Pep Guardiola took defender Ruben Dias off at half-time as he was on a yellow card. Three days later, and makeshift defender Bernardo Silva was in the same situation, yet lasted the full 90 minutes in a crucial win at Arsenal.
Bernardo was effectively playing as a left-back at the Emirates, tasked with stopping Bukayo Saka. While he was effective in that duty in the first half, he had to accept a booking after one too many fouls on Arsenal's number seven. However, Guardiola persisted with Bernardo at left-back until the hour mark, when Nathan Ake moved over and City went on to secure three massive points.
And Guardiola pointed to Bernardo's intelligence not to put himself in a situation where he could get sent off, when asked if he had considered replacing the midfielder at half time.
