Pep Guardiola has revealed why John Stones sat out Manchester City's 2-1 win over West Ham after a fine performance against Paris St Germain in midweek.
The Blues picked up where they left off against PSG, who beat by the same scoreline, with goals from Ilkay Gundogan and Fernandinho sealing three points.
But Stones was left on the subs' bench as Guardiola changed his centre back pairing for the eighth game in a row - a stark contrast to last season, when he began the campaign with Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte as his preferred pair and then switched to Dias and Stones for most of the remaining games.
Since Stones came back from injury, the manager has been happy to share the load - but he said the reason Stones did not start today was more basic.
He said there is no particular reason he has abandoned last season's consistent selection, saying: "No reason why. I would like Nathan (Ake) to play more but Ayme is playing really well against teams …
"We need a guy with a left foot. John was not quite well the last two days, a bit sick, a fever after PSG, a change for the other guys."
The manager was delighted with his players, coming off the back of the PSG win to rack up three points in a difficult game against surprise top four challengers.
"We came from a tough game in midweek against PSG and we know what we faced today," he said.
"The amount of chances we created, especially in the first half and especially in the conditions made it a huge victory for us, for the effort, for the players.
"We controlled the counter attacks. We could (normally) make another speed, another rhythm but the weather didn’t allow it."
