Aymeric Laporte’s knee injury could prove to be the key moment in the Premier League title race come next May.
The Frenchman is expected to miss a sizeable chunk of the season, having been stretchered off against Brighton back on August 31st.
Manchester City have looked shaky at the back ever since, with defeats suffered against Norwich City and Wolves.
Writing on BBC Sport, Alan Shearer sees Laporte’s continued absence as a major issue for Pep Guardiola:
Without the injured Aymeric Laporte at the back, City have clearly got a big problem – and it is not going away.
The strength of their attack means the defence is not always tested but, on Sunday, they lacked ideas going forward too.
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Laporte is arguably the Premier League’s second-best centre-back behind Virgil van Dijk, so his injury was always going to be key.
City look more mistake-prone without him than many expected, though, and they are now eight points adrift of Liverpool in the title race.
That is a big gap, but it is still only October and Jurgen Klopp won’t be getting carried away for one second.
City showed last season that they are capable of going on relentless winning runs and it shouldn’t be ruled out in 2019/20.
Without their star defender holding the troops together, though, the champions suddenly look beatable.
