Trapdoor opens for Laporte as form of Akanji has shut him out

The Blues were down to the bare bones in a high-pressure run-in for the title – losing yet another defender could have been catastrophic.

- DANIEL MURPHY

WHO’D have thought it?

Just shy of a year ago Aymeric Laporte took pain-killing injection after pain-killing injection to play on through the hurt for City with his knee hanging by a string.

But instead, when his season looked over after he limped off injured against Wolves, Laporte bravely played on and soldiered through the full 90 minutes of the last two games to ensure City got over the line.

Had he not, City may well have done what they came so close to doing and fumbled at the final hurdle to allow Liverpool to win instead.

When the season finally was over, the Spain international finally got the surgery required to fix his injury and he missed the start of the season as a result.

It wasn’t until the final 15 minutes of the 6-3 battering of United on October 2 that he made his long-awaited return.

But since then he has hardly featured in the team at all. Laporte has started just six times in the Premier League this season and only has an additional seven starts in cup competitions.