Manchester City moved three points clear at the top of the Premier League table with a 5-0 thrashing of Newcastle United at the Etihad Stadium.
Two goals from Raheem Sterling as well as an dazzling display from captain Kevin De Bruyne stood out, but it was the impressive performance from defender Aymeric Laporte that stole the show, with the Spain international even getting in on the action and scoring a goal himself.
The result sees The Citizens move even closer to a fourth Premier League title in five years, and their resilient defensive performance certainly allowed their forward line to roam free and dominate an in-form Newcastle side.
What makes it even more extraordinary is the fact that they were without two key defenders for the clash. Both Kyle Walker and John Stones were absent from the squad after suffering injuries during City’s recent Champions League semi-final 6-5 aggregate defeat to Real Madrid.
A key highlight of Laporte’s performance was his one on one defending, with the 27-year-old winning 100% of his duels, all of which were in the air.
He also achieved a pass accuracy percentage of 96% proving that he can be just as reliable on the ground. After that performance, it’s hard to see why Guardiola should drop him even when John Stones returns to fitness. He has featured 29 times in the Premier League this season which is up significantly from the 16 games he appeared in last season.
Up until now, Pep has seemed to have preferred the partnership of Ruben Dias and Stones, but Laporte was his hero today and leaves him with a dilemma.
Given the number of competitions that City are always involved in there is enough game time for everyone, but if he thinks he’s good enough to start and he’s left on the bench then he may eventually seek more game time elsewhere.
Laporte’s overall SofaScore rating for the match was 7.5 which was the highest of all the defenders and beaten by only Sterling, De Bruyne and Rodri. He produced when given the opportunity and has shown that he is capable of fighting for the two available spots.
He may not grab the headlines tomorrow, but we think he was the best player on the pitch.
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