Manchester City will have to find a way to cope in Kevin De Bruyne absence for much of this season, yet Saturday's injury felt more painful than most that have come before it.
His latest setback presents Pep Guardiola with a thorny problem then as he needs to find a way to plug the creativity, drive, energy, passion, leadership qualities and anything else De Bruyne possesses with only one player allowed to come in.
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The first name on the teamsheet is Fernandinho.
Installing Fernandinho back to his favoured role and moving Gundogan up appears to be the simplest way of keeping creativity in the team without unsettling the power of that middle three.
The next name is Bernardo Silva who has been shunted wide.
The Portugal star has been perhaps City's best player this season and moving him out of the position he had shone in had the prospect to go wrong.
Moving him back to the centre of midfield is almost certainly the biggest chance City have of not losing any of the quality going both forward and back that De Bruyne brings.
That will require a reprieve for Leroy Sane or Riyad Mahrez out wide, who have been out of favour for a while at the Etihad.
Phil Foden is the last name Guardiola can count on in Kevin De Bruyne Absence.
It would be a rather large gamble though, one that Guardiola has not been known to make before during his three years at the Etihad and would not likely turn to given the nature of this gripping title race.
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At least, Foden will hope to have earned a role off the bench with his winner against Tottenham which should, in turn, help out any option the manager plumps for without De Bruyne.
This article was most recently revised and updated 4 years ago
