Man City know their new centre-back hierarchy for the rest of the season

Aymeric Laporte's return finally gives Pep Guardiola strength in defence alongside Fernandinho, Stones and Otamendi.

Ever since Aymeric Laporte's injury in August, Manchester City have struggled in defence.

From the following game - the shambolic 3-2 defeat at Norwich - Pep Guardiola has had to find fixes at the back amid injury worries and poor form. Including Laporte, Guardiola has used seven players at centre-back across all competitions in at least nine different combinations.

Fernandinho has stepped in admirably, offering some consistency in defence throughout the turbulent campaign, but Laporte's return from injury in January was undeniably a boost.

Laporte has only played four times since returning, with the main aim before the lockdown being to get him back to full fitness.

Now, as City returned to training this week, Laporte is back to full fitness and will surely resume his place as first-choice centre-back. The question now is who partners him.

Statistically, Nicolas Otamendi is the best partner for Laporte, with the pair have an 88 per cent win rate, winning 16 of the 18 Premier League games they have started together and conceding just 0.5 goals per game.

And of Laporte's four appearances since his return, Otamendi has started three of those - although he was substituted 33 minutes into the Champions League win at Madrid and the pair were joined by Fernandinho in a back-three at Sheffield United. Fernandinho has been a Player of the Season contender this season, but he is no longer required to be first choice in defence anymore.

Guardiola's selection when Laporte was available could also have been influenced by the poor form of John Stones this season, but Stones insists he has taken a step back over the lockdown break to work on his basic fitness and attitude towards training.

When Laporte and Stones play together, they have a 73 per cent win rate from 15 Premier League games, conceding 0.6 goals per game. It's a worse record on both counts than Laporte and Otamendi, but of the options at the club at the moment, Stones is the more likely long-term partner for Laporte. Their last start together was the 5-0 demolition against West Ham on the opening day of the season.

Perhaps a solution could be to pair Laporte and a reinvigorated Stones together for the remaining Premier League games, with Otamendi replacing Stones for the Champions League games. The hectic fixture schedule that is expected means Fernandinho, Eric Garcia and Taylor Harwood-Bellis can relieve the pressure when necessary, especially on Laporte.

Guardiola can use the Premier League to experiment, so it is a perfect opportunity to provide Stones another chance alongside Laporte and mould what could be next season's first-choice partnership.

City will try to sign a new centre-back this summer, but they must prepare for a worst-case scenario that they don't bring in reinforcements for the second successive summer - especially in what will be an uncertain transfer market.

If that was to happen, Stones and Laporte should be given as much chance to work on their partnership so next season's options at the back are as strong as possible.