Manchester City midfielder Rodri is expected to spend a significant period of time on the sidelines after suffering a serious knee injury against Arsenal on Sunday.
It was a strange incident in the match at the Etihad as a seemingly innocuous coming together between the Spaniard and Thomas Partey left the City star on the ground.
He was clearly in a lot of pain and while his club is yet to confirm how bad the injury is, initial reports suggest it is serious and he could miss the rest of the season.
Rodri’s importance to Pep Guardiola’s side has long been known, with the imposing midfielder a fixture in the immensely successful starting XI.
But just how big a loss will he be as City bid for a fifth straight Premier League title and look to hold off the challenges of Arsenal and Liverpool.
Opta data reveals that Manchester City have lost just 11 per cent of their games since Rodri’s debut in 2019 in which he has played.
Of the games he has missed since his debut, City have lost 24 per cent.
The stats say that Manchester City win 2.36 points-per-game with Rodri in the side and 2.04 without him.
With 13 points already in the bag this campaign, if Rodri misses the rest of the season at the same points-per-game rate then City will finish on 80 points rather than the 91 they would win with him in the team.
If Manchester City finish with just 80 points then their chances of winning the title are not good.
The last time a team won the Premier League with such a low total was in 2010/11 when Manchester United topped the table with 80 points, remarkably finishing nine clear of Chelsea in second.
Manchester City are, of course, pretty well equipped to deal with injuries and have the likes of Mateo Kovacic, Ilkay Gundogan, Rico Lewis or even John Stones able to fill in at the base of midfield.
