The Manchester City juggernaut continues on its merry way but Huddersfield Town came as close to stopping them in their tracks during Sunday's 2-1 result as any team so far over the last few weeks.
Pat Nevin was on hand for that match and tonight he joined Joe and Kevin Kilbane to discuss why City were slightly under-par against Huddersfield.
One area the ex-Scotland, Chelsea and Everton winger pointed to an absentee at the back who has been missing through injury for the last couple of weeks.
"When they lose John Stones, I don't think they look as good. I don't think they have looked as good since they lost John Stones now but one or two have stood up to the plate," he said, referencing Nicolas Otamendi.
"The only player I felt you could struggle to do without was Stones because even how good De Bruyne is, it's okay, Silva can do it. Even as good as Sane is, it's okay, someone else can do it."
Pat also highlighted the player Pep Guardiola would love to bring in as cover for Stones in that role of ball playing centre back.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola and Manchester City's Raheem Sterling celabrate after the final whistle of the Premier League match at the John Smith's Stadium, Huddersfield. Danny Lawson/PA Wire/PA Images
"In actual fact, I heard a wee whisper. I don't know if it's absolutely true but the player that he'd really like more than anyone else and now that I've watched it, he'd love Andreas Christensen from Chelsea. I think that's the one he really wants. He's not going to get him but he's the one that seems at that sort of age that he'll be able to do the same sort of thing as Stones."
Meanwhile, Raheem Sterling has now moved onto eight Premier League goals already for the season as his development as a goalscoring winger under Guardiola continues unabated, with more variation to his play away from just running at defenders.
"There was one particular [move] in the first half, where he just nipped it short and then spun and he must have made 10 yards on the defender. He just absolutely left him for dead," said Pat of one example of a change to Sterling's approach.
"But because you've got a number of different things that you can do; you can use pure pace, you know he's got a bit of skill as well and he's doing those little technical things like give-and-go and move and then add on top of that, go inside. You'll frighten the life out of people and creating space."
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
