After signing Erling Haaland and completing the transfer of Julian Alvarez last summer, many thought Manchester City will cruise to another Premier League title, especially after the early season misfortunes of Liverpool and Chelsea. Despite starting well and winning seven of their opening nine games the Citizens find themselves second in the league, five points behind Arsenal with the Gunners having a game in hand.

Despite being second, Guardiola’s men have been guilty of lacklustre performances including the loss at Anfield and Old Trafford and the first half against Tottenham and Chelsea in the league. They’ve been so many inconsistent performances and the team doesn’t seem to be at their dominant best in certain games. One od the problems the Citizens have had this season is a drop in quality of the attack. 

Erling Haaland has been lethal with his 25 league goals in 20 games, however, the rest of the attacking crew seems to have on-and-off days and are unable to provide quality service to the Norwegian forward on their off day. Mahrez has discovered some form over the past few games and has been heavily involved in the goals but even needs more consistency. Phil Foden is off form at the moment and has struggled to have any impact in a league game since the World Cup.