Both Ruben Dias (£5.7m) and John Stones (£5.0m) have been instrumental in recent weeks as Man City have five clean sheets in the Premier League from their last seven games and they were excellent again in the Manchester derby in the semi-final of the EFL Cup. Pep Guardiola seems to have a spring in his step once more as City finally look to have happened across a centre-back pairing but the likely return of Kyle Walker to the squad could put Stones’ place in particular at risk in the near future.
For the meantime, though, both Dias and Stones are likely to start at home to Brighton in Gameweek 18 and City own an imperious record over the Seagulls with a 9-0 aggregate score from the 2019/20 season as proof. Clean sheets look likely here and Stones’ cheaper price and EFL Cup goal may make him look the more appealing of the two players but Dias looks to be the un-droppable member of City’s back-line and gets our pick for that reason.
Verdict: Ruben Dias