Phil Foden may have changed Man City's Kevin De Bruyne plan

Do Manchester City drop the world's best No.10 in order to win the Premier League title?

Amazingly, that is the question being asked after Phil Foden returned to the middle to produce a masterclass against Aston Villa as Kevin De Bruyne watched on from the bench.

As De Bruyne has seen his season interrupted by injury and fitness concerns this term, Foden has accelerated his development from attack-minded winger to all-action, disciplined No.10, with his Villa hat-trick a convincing argument for him to remain in that position going forward.

If he did, what happens to De Bruyne, however? Can the pair play together in the same system, while still getting the best out of Foden's new-found threat in the centre? Is De Bruyne too good to leave out?

Ortega reveals family reasons behind why he's considering quitting City

Guardiola may scrap De Bruyne and Haaland plan as new tactic emerges

Our writers have pondered the dilemma and tried to find a solution for Pep Guardiola in the last two months of the season:

Joe Bray

I just can't see a scenario where City go into their biggest games of the run-in without De Bruyne in the team. It made sense to rest him against Villa - he looked off the pace against Arsenal and there is a huge week ahead with little recovery time between games. Foden can absorb the games better than De Bruyne can, and he took his chance back in the middle and ran with it.

But when he's firing on all cylinders, De Bruyne remains the best No.10 in the world. To paraphrase what Guardiola said, he and Erling Haaland can make things happen without the team playing football - they can turn games on their head individually. Foden is getting to that stage, but isn't there yet (why would he be after less than a