Rio Ferdinand believes Manchester City star Rodri is the only indispensable member of Pep Guardiola's team and the Spanish midfielder's recent absence through suspension proves it

Rio Ferdinand says the only time he can spot a weakness in Manchester City is when Rodri is absent.

The Spain midfielder returned from a three-match suspension last week and is primed for Sunday's derby against Manchester United at Old Trafford. City lost all three games in which Rodri was missing from the base of their midfield and their league record without him since he signed is seven defeats from 17 games.

And ex-United centre half Ferdinand says it is hard to find a weakness in Pep Guardiola 's team but there is only one indispensable star. "Unfortunately for everyone else you can't have Rodri suspended every week," Ferdinand said. "He's the only indispensable player in the squad.

"You can talk about [Erling] Haaland but if he is out, [Julian] Alvarez comes in and scores. If Rodri doesn't play they don't look the same at the moment. Until this magician Pep finds someone else to go in and cover him. I don't know what it is yet."

The champions' nearest competitors this season are likely to be north London duo Tottenham and Arsenal, both of whom remain unbeaten, with Liverpool also losing just once in their opening nine games. United, however, have been defeated on four occasions.

Rodri missed three games after being sent off against Man City "You look for ways to find a weakness, a chink in their armour," he added. "We were used to starting slow and by Christmas being eight points behind. But when [Jose] Mourinho came in [at Chelsea ] that changed and that one dynamic was different.

"We knew we had to come out of the blocks firing at the start of the season, which was a big change for us, but it's up for teams now to find something in City."

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