Ilkay Gundogan s hot streak in front of goal means another successful Premier League title tilt is brewing at Manchester City, but Pep Guardiola has not given up on playing with a conventional striker.
Injury problems for Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus this season, both of whom have also tested positive for coronavirus, forced Guardiola to think outside the box for matters inside the box.
The results, especially in recent weeks have been dazzling.
Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez, Raheem Sterling and Ferran Torres have all spent times operating at the point of City s fluid attack.
However, the main beneficiary of the confusion and space opened up within opposition defences has been Ilkay Gundogan.
The Germany international s brace in Wednesday s 5-0 thrashing of West Brom took his tally to seven Premier League goals in his past eight matches already more than he has managed in any top-flight campaign during his career.
Gundogan s purple patch began with the opening goal in a 1-1 draw against the Baggies on December 15.
From that point onwards, no player can match the ex-Borussia Dortmund playmaker s tally, with Arsenal s Alexandre Lacazette next up on five. Gundogan s minutes-per-goal rate of 92.4 is better than any other player over the same period with two or more goals.
There are players who are in front of the keeper and could take a coffee and still have time to do a good finish. The others get nervous. It is a quality in itself, Guardiola said of the Gundogan, somewhat appropriately a week when the 30-year-old midfielder launched a charity initiative to help cafes and restaurants in Manchester struggling with the impact of the pandemic.
The quality of his finishing we have always seen. As a holding midfielder [where Gundogan played during the run-in of City s treble-winning 2018-19 season] the distance to get to the box was difficult but he has a special sense of finishing.
The last two goals in the game against West Bromwich explain perfectly the quality because it shows how quickly he moves and the quality of the shot. It is not easy to find that.
We are delighted because it is not easy to control the players who come from the second line behind.
It is easier to control the strikers, but more difficult for the players in behind and he is exceptional.
City are still waiting on Aguero to return a negative COVID-19 test so he can resume first-team duties and the Argentina international s struggles on his return from meniscus surgery including a further hamstring setback mean only two of his five scoreless Premier League outings this season have been starts.
In the last of those, he made way at half-time for Foden, who promptly secured a 1-1 draw at West Ham as the visitors played the second 45 minutes without a recognised centre-forward.
Jesus has started eight matches, with four wins, three draws and a defeat to his name. In 11 without him in the first XI, City have improved that 50 per cent win ratio to 72.7 (W8 D2 L1).
Although their average of goals per game is slightly higher with Brazil international in the starting line-up (two compared to 1.8), City average 16.7 shots per game when he doesn t make kick-off as opposed to 15.6 when he does.
7 Ilkay Gündogan has scored seven Premier League goals this season his best ever scoring season in the top five European Leagues. Leader.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe)
Even though seven straight wins have come predominantly in striker-less fashion, Guardiola still believes Jesus and Aguero have an important part to play as Saturday s game against bottom club Sheffield United begins the second half of the league season.
I never put pressure on Sergio and Gabriel to solve all the problems we have up front, he said. The reason why we score goals and win games is because our game itself is better, nothing more secret.
There are games I need a striker and other games I prefer to play without a proper one, but there is one consequence if you play with a striker or not you have to have six or seven players arrive to the box.
It is another way to read the game. Sometimes I need one, sometimes two, sometimes I need a striker to drop to play with the midfield players. It depends on the opponents and the skills of my players in that moment.
Reports in Italy this week claimed City had been offered a more traditional number nine in the form of Edin Dzeko, a one-time crowd favourite at the Etihad Stadium who has fallen out of favour at Roma.
It is a move that probably appeals more to sentimentalists within the City fanbase than Guardiola himself, meaning it will not have escaped their notice that the manager did not categorically rule out the move.
I don t talk about the transfer market here. He s a Roma player and I will never discuss this kind of situation, Guardiola added.
My feeling is that we will finish the season with everyone that we started the season with, except maybe one player [Eric Garcia] that everyone knows may be moving.
I don t think anything else will happen. We will see in the final few days [of the transfer window].
