John Stones and Ruben Dias are not guaranteed to start the big games left this season as Manchester City's definite centre-back pairing.
That is the opinion of former City defender Joleon Lescott, who believes all five centre-backs have a key role to play in the Blues' hunt for the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.
Stones and Dias started together at Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final first-leg, with Manuel Akanji replacing the injured Nathan Ake at left-back and Aymeric Laporte on the bench. Laporte has been out of favour recently but earned praise from Pep Guardiola for his performance against Leeds last weekend.
ALSO READ: Man City can boost title chances by fixing issue Pep Guardiola spotted against Everton
While Stones and Dias have both started key games together in recent months, Guardiola has used Stones in a more advanced role at times, with Akanji and Ake coming inside to make a back-three in possession if they are also playing - a system that Laporte fitted into seamlessly when he earned a rare start vs Leeds.
Discussing the centre-back situation, Lescott believes that nothing is set in stone and City's versatility means all five defenders can still play an important part in the final six (or seven) games of the season.
"I think depending on if Nathan Ake's fit, I think he plays. I think John Stones plays and Ruben Dias plays, but not conventionally centre halves," Lescott told MEN Sport, courtesy of AceOdds.
"I think Pep's still in the case of, 'oh, I need to pick personnel that wins me the game' rather than, 'these are the players that are going to play and I'm not changing'.
"There's still a title to win. There's still an FA Cup to win. For a period of time, we've seen more regular personnel at the back. But at the start of the season, you could have said Ruben Dias was out of favour, who wasn't in the team. So I think they all go through spells when they're in.
"But from a player's perspective, yeah, [Laporte] would be frustrated because every player wants to play every minute. But you've got to give him credit because he isn't showing that frustration when he plays."
Regarding Akanji's debut season, Lescott hailed the summer signing's versatility, where he has impressed playing in the centre and in both full-back roles.
"He's able to play and look comfortable throughout the backline," said Lescott. "Whatever role he's asked to do or perform, he's doing it exceptionally well. I expect that to be his progression at Man City, while Pep's there anyway.
"It's kind of, 'this is the way we're going to play', and we're lucky that he's able to fulfil different roles and is probably better suited to all of them roles. Barring the John Stones one when he's more advanced, but as either full-back, you wouldn't expect Ruben Dias or John Stones to be able to do that as well as Akanji. So I think they're all as important as each other for different reasons."
ALSO READ
