Two men stood on the Stamford Bridge pitch after Manchester City had beaten Chelsea. One with a stopwatch, the other ready to run.
John Stones was putting in the hard yards with City’s fitness coach Lorenzo Buenaventura. The central defender was timed sprinting from byline to halfway on several occasions. This looked like a pre-season drill and, for Stones, it effectively was.
The trouble is this was September 25, not July. Stones has not played a single minute for City so far this term and the main reason for that is the international calendar.