CITY Raheem is now the man you can call on
SERGIO Aguero has bagged most goals and Kevin de Bruyne is king of the assists at City.
But the man who has TRULY made the biggest difference for the Blues this season is ready to return to action at Arsenal tomorrow night.
Raheem Sterling has almost doubled his previous season’s best goals tally by scoring 20 times in this campaign.
He topped the club’s marksman chart for most of the season until Aguero’s incredible burst of 15 goals in his last 13 games has seen him reclaim his natural place as City’s goal prince.
But when you look at the importance of the goals, Sterling is still the man who has popped up when it matters for the Blues this season.
His 11 league goals have earned City 11 points this season, a record only bettered by Tottenham star Harry Kane (24 goals, 14 points) and Liverpool’s Mo Salah (23 goals, 13 points).
Aguero’s 21 goals have only been responsible for seven points this season.
The stat is slightly skewed by the fact that strikers playing in teams that score far fewer goals than City are artificially boosted – and by the fact that second or even third goals are really just as crucial as the one that actually secures points.
That is shown by the fact that Aguero’s seven-point contribution is matched by Romelu Lukaku, Wayne Rooney, Sadio Mane and Oumar Niasse, none of whom have influenced the destiny of the league title as much as Kun.
But the fact remains that Sterling has been the go-to man in many games this season.
From the moment he rescued a point with the crisp volley against Everton in August, Sterling has made a habit of netting vital goals.
He quickly followed that with a dramatic late winner at Bournemouth which brought him a red card for celebrating with the travelling fans.
A tap-in at West Brom was followed by a remarkable eight days during which Sterling scored late winners against Feyenoord, Huddersfield and Southampton – a crucial phase of the season.
He revisited his knack of grabbing critical goals with the only strike at Newcastle at Christmas, but since then the goals have, relatively speaking, dried up with just three in his last 11 games.
The England man seemed to grab at his hamstring when he was subbed in the 4-0 win at Basel, and has missed the two games since, including Sunday’s Carabao Cup final. But the sight of him training with the squad on Monday, in preparation for the trip to the Emirates, is a boost for the Blues.
He has developed a healthy knack of being in the right place at the right time, and Pep Guardiola said that this season he has learned to enjoy scoring goals, rather than finding the idea “scary”.
With the next two games – at Arsenal and home to Chelsea – expected to be tight, he could make all the difference, once again.