Manchester City return to action in the Premier League this evening as they prepare to travel away from home to take on Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Cityzens have lost their last three matches in all competitions, including a 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth in the top-flight last weekend, and were hammered by Sporting on Tuesday night.
Viktor Gyokeres scored a hat-trick against Pep Guardiola’s side in a 4-1 win for Ruben Amorim’s men in the Champions League, in a result that City have to bounce back strong from.
Whilst Gyokeres put his name in the spotlight with a huge performance, Manchester City’s number nine – Erling Haaland – continued his recent struggles.
Erling Haaland's recent struggles
The Norway international has scored 11 goals in ten Premier League games and three goals in four Champions League outings this season, which makes it seem fairly ridiculous to be critical of his performances.
However, Haaland has underperformed, by his high standards, and has struggled in recent weeks, failing to score in four of his last six outings in all competitions.
xG
3.46
Shots
17
Big chances missed
5
Goals
1
Assists
0
As you can see in the table above, the former Borussia Dortmund star has been incredibly wasteful in his last four outings in the Premier League, with one goal from 3.46 xG.
Haaland also missed two ‘big chances’, one of which was a penalty, in the 4-1 defeat to Sporting, which further shows that the striker is not at his best right now.
Guardiola, though, could get the centre-forward firing again by unleashing Kevin de Bruyne from the start against Brighton at the Amex this evening.
Why Kevin de Bruyne should start
The Belgian wizard made his return from injury off the bench against Sporting and should now return to the starting XI, if he is fit enough to do so, today.
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De Bruyne started the first four games of the Premier League season for City and the team won all four matches, whilst Haaland scored a staggering nine goals.
Since the midfielder’s absence with a hamstring injury, the Norwegian star has only scored two goals in six Premier League appearances for the Cityzens, which suggests that he has struggled without the 33-year-old ace’s presence in the middle of the park.
The experienced campaigner, who Thierry Henry claimed is “on another planet” when it comes to creating chances, was also restricted to just 18 games in the top-flight last term and, yet, managed to create a stunning 21 ‘big chances’ for his teammates.
In his first season with Haaland, in the 2022/23 campaign, de Bruyne racked up a staggering 31 ‘big chances’ created and 16 assists in 32 Premier League matches.
The striker’s career record whilst playing alongside the Belgian playmaker is 54 goals and nine assists in 50 Premier League games, with nine hat-tricks in that time, with 20 goals and three assists in 26 matches without him.
This suggests that Haaland is at his best when playing with de Bruyne, which is why Guardiola can get the forward firing again by unleashing the midfielder from the start.
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