Manchester City are still unbeaten in the Premier League so far this season.
With six games played in this latest campaign, City have won four and drawn twice, bagging 14 goals and conceding six in the process.
Their latest league outing saw the Blues draw 1-1 against Newcastle United at St. James’ Park before they then went on to beat Slovan Bratislava 4-0 on Tuesday night in the Champions League.
Pep Guardiola’s side are back in league action again on Saturday as they welcome Fulham to the Etihad Stadium for their first meeting of the campaign.
Looking ahead to this game, one player from City’s squad, who delivered a top performance in midweek should find himself remaining in the starting XI for the upcoming clash against the Cottagers.
Pep Guardiola must start John Stones against Fulham
For Tuesday’s win in Slovakia, Guardiola made five changes to the starting XI he picked for last weekend’s match at Newcastle.
One of the players who didn’t start against the Toon but did against Bratislava is John Stones.
This was the £250k-a-week defender’s third start of the season across all competitions having only appeared in five games in total.
With the full 90 minutes under his belt against Bratislava, the Englishman showed why he deserves to keep his place in the starting XI for Saturday’s showdown with Fulham.
How did Stones fare against Slovan Bratislava?
Having touched the ball 120 times, only Ilkay Gundogan (145) had more touches than Stones, who accurately completed 109 of the 110 passes he attempted.
This gave him a passing accuracy percentage of 99%, having also made two key passes and five long-ball passes.
The defender also managed to have two shots at goal and create one big chance for his side in midweek.
Even though Bratislava only had 24% possession and three attempts at goal in total, Stones still managed to do his bit defensively by making one tackle, interception and clearance as well as blocking one shot and winning five of the seven duels he was involved in.
This performance ultimately earned the 30-year-old an impressive overall match rating of 8.6/10 from SofaScore, making him the highest-rated City player who didn’t deliver a goal or assist for the Blues.
While Stones played in defence for this game, Guardiola could also deploy the England international in a midfield role against Fulham as a result of Rodri’s knee injury which will keep him sidelined for the rest of the season.
Taking all of that on board, and the fact that he showed how effective he can be in front of goal by scoring the late equaliser against Arsenal, Stones has shown he deserves to start against Fulham and that now is his time to shine on a regular basis.
