Man City’s win record with and without Rodri

Manchester City's most important player has been clear for quite some time now. It's not Ruben Dias, it's not Kevin De Bruyne and it's not even last season's top scorer Erling Haaland.

No, it's Rodri, the midfield enforcer who keeps the treble winners ticking.

The Spaniard picked up the first red card of his career when Nottingham Forest visited the Etihad Stadium on 23 September, getting his marching orders for putting his hands around Morgan Gibbs-White's neck.

While City would comfortably hold on to their two-goal lead against Forest, the reigning champions have not fared so well in Rodri's subsequent absences.

How does Manchester City's win rate compare with and without Rodri?

Since making his debut for the Sky Blues in August 2019, Guardiola's men have lost seven of 17 Premier League games in which Rodri hasn't featured. That means the all-conquering Man City have lost more than a third (41%) of the league games they have played without their midfield stalwart.

In comparison, Man City have lost just 19 of Rodri's 150 Premier League appearances - winning 110 and drawing 21. The simple maths of that means the Cityzens have lost just 13% of those games when the 27-year-old has featured.

City's Rodri-dependency has been particularly pronounced this season after the summer sale of Ilkay Gundogan and in Kevin De Bruyne's injury absence. While losing all four matches that Rodri has missed this term, City are unbeaten in the Spaniard's previous 43 appearances in sky blue.

That number six role is arguably the only position in which Man City don't have adequate depth. When Rodri is missing, it leaves a gaping void in the heart of the engine room, with Kalvin Phillips' disappointing form and injury woes meaning they don't have a replacement capable of filling in for the former Atletico Madrid man.

The Premier League games Manchester City have lost without Rodri

Man City first lost without Rodri in 2020 when he was an unused substitute in a 1-0 defeat at Southampton. Che Adams spectacularly scored his first Saints goal against a City side that had already seen Liverpool take their Premier League title.

Stuart Dallas enjoyed the space left vacant by Rodri's absence to net twice at the Etihad in a 2-1 win for Leeds United, who had defender Liam Cooper sent off just before half-time, the following year.

A Tottenham Hotspur side without their own talisman Harry Kane consigned City to another defeat in north London in 2021, but City would then go the better part of two years without losing a league game with Rodri not involved.

That run was ended when he was rested on the final day of the 2022/23 league season as Brentford nicked a 1-0 win.

After engineering a deserved 2-1 victory over City in September 2023, Wolverhampton Wanderers boss Gary O'Neil explicitly referenced the absent midfielder. "I think Rodri missing was a big plus," O'Neil admitted. "I think Rodri makes that team tick a lot better. Obviously no disrespect to anybody who played today but when he's the pivot it's a lot more difficult to stop."

Mikel Arteta only briefly overlapped with Rodri at City but proved to be well aware of how to exploit the cavernous hole he leaves when guiding Arsenal to a 1-0 win over City in October.

It was surely no coincidence that Unai Emery's Aston Villa racked up the most shots ever faced by a Pep Guardiola side on a night when Rodri was missing. Villa's dominant 1-0 triumph at the start of December forced City's manager to admit that he must "find a way to win without him".

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