Ruben Dias may yet start the Manchester derby.
Pep Guardiola said that the centre-back had only been taken off as a precaution at half-time of Manchester City's FA Cup win over Peterborough, after feeling something in his leg. If he is able to shake that off, he will be in strong contention to start.
The difference, though, from last season, is that it doesn't feel like he needs to start for City to stand a chance. Last year his impact was extraordinary, single-handedly raising standards and turning the whole defence from shoddy to supreme as they coasted to the Premier League title and made the Champions League final for the first time.
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This season, it isn't that Dias has slipped in his standards but that Aymeric Laporte has risen to the challenge to mean that it no longer feels fatal to City's chances of winning a game if the former Benfica captain does not start. When Chelsea came to the Etihad in January, he was on the bench as Laporte kept a clean sheet alongside John Stones.
If Dias cannot make Sunday's clash with Manchester United, Stones and Laporte will be the go-to pair. Born a day apart, they were the two defenders Guardiola identified when he arrived in Manchester in 2016, only for Laporte to turn the Blues down at the 11th hour before belatedly joining 18 months later.
There are some supporters who still aren't convinced by Laporte, and there are weaknesses to his game. However, not only are there many strengths but this season has highlighted that each of City's centre-backs has areas that they do better than the others, and other parts of the game where they struggle.
Laporte has raised his level to the extent that Guardiola can now choose specific partnerships for different games, and the manager still rates the Spaniard as the best left-footed central defender in the world. That is some compliment.
As a pairing, Stones and Laporte have conceded just one goal in five matches together all season; a further three matches where Stones has played at right-back have all seen clean sheets too. Suffice to say all eight matches have been City wins.
It is hard to believe that just two seasons ago, City lined up at home in the derby with Fernandinho paired with an out-of-form Stones in the middle of defence, with the England man replaced by Nicolas Otamendi for the last 30 minutes. Suffice to say, that did not end in a City win.
Guardiola needed Dias to steady the defence last season and raise the bar, but that challenge has been accepted by his teammates to give the manager even greater quality in his backline. That improvement has made City less reliant on Dias for success.
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