Fernandinho is ready to step in and be Manchester City's saviour with early signs on Aymeric Laporte's injury not looking good.
The French international, the best defender at the club, was stretchered off during the first half of the win over Brighton and then taken to hospital with Pep Guardiola not hopeful of the forecast.
With John Stones also injured and no replacement signed for Vincent Kompany in the summer, it left the Blues with just one fit centre-back and meant Fernandinho had to come off the bench to partner Nicolas Otamendi.
A lynchpin of the team for so many years, Fernandinho had not played a minute before Saturday as he eased back to full strength following his participation at the Copa America and an injury he picked up there. All the work he has done on the training pitch, though, has been at the heart of defence as City plan to use him more in that position this season with Rodri and Ilkay Gundogan available to play in the holding midfield role.
"I've been training in this position the last couple of weeks," he said. "We still have two centre-backs but I can play in this position.
"John was injured, Laporte comes off and I was the only one on the bench. It's not a secret for me. The key is just to understand the concept of the way we have to play. The movements and the pace we use in games. It was my first time and I hope I can improve and do better next time."
Laporte's absence will create a problem for the Blues and leave them more reliant on Fernandinho as well as youngsters Eric Garcia and Taylor Harwood-Bellis to help ease the strain on Otamendi and Stones.
Guardiola has raved about the Brazilian since arriving at the Etihad, suggesting that he can play a number of roles within the team. Fernandinho does not see the position switch as a big adjustment, particularly given the way he sees Premier League teams lining up against them.
"To be honest, not too [different]," he said of the two positions. "We have a proper style of play so we try to have the ball as much as possible, especially in the Premier League.
"There are two or three teams that try to play football like us, most of the teams try to play long balls so we try to anticipate and read the games. Of course, a game like today we just kept the ball and tried to create space for the midfielders. When we defend, we had to defend compact."
