Manchester City hosts Tottenham Hotspur at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon as the Premier League season resumes.
Manchester City fans will have bad memories of Tottenham’s last visit to the Etihad Stadium.
Riyad Mahrez’s last-minute penalty sparked celebrations in the stands as City looked to have snatched a late point, only for a gut-wrenching winner from Harry Kane to be turned home in the 95th minute.
The Blues dominated the match against their North London opposition, as they registered more possession, shots, corners, passes, and touches. But Spurs’ gameplan was simple, sit in deep and hit City on the counter-attack, with Son Heung-min, Dejan Kulusevski, and Kane all exposing the space left behind the Blues’ defense.
Pep Guardiola admitted the difficulty of playing against a deep-seated team after the game, revealing his frustrations. “They won the first half with the goal, no more,” he said, adding that “trying to attack when they have five or six at the back is just not easy.”
So, with Spurs set to visit the Etihad on Saturday afternoon, likely employing the same tactics as last season, the question is: what has City done to avoid the same outcome this time?
The answer is a 6ft 4in Norwegian goalscoring machine, otherwise known as Erling Haaland.
The former Borussia Dortmund striker has scored a staggering 10 goals in six Premier League appearances so far, with two hat-tricks. Haaland has put to bed any doubts that he would struggle with the intensity of the English league, leaving many pundits and rival fans with egg on their faces.
Killing a game off when you’re dominating a match is absolutely vital — and something that City failed to do last season. They had 71 percent possession and 21 shots compared to Tottenham’s six and still could not find a way to put the game to bed.
This is where the 22-year-old steps in. Haaland has taken 25 shots in the Premier League so far for his 10 goals, and although it’s not quite as simple as this, he is so far scoring a goal every 2.5 shots he takes.
At that rate, if every chance fell to the striker, Guardiola’s new signing would have scored eight goals against Tottenham at the Etihad last season.
This is of course an absurd assumption to make, especially as the most goals scored by a single player in a Premier League match currently stands at five (just ask Sergio Aguero). However, what it does show is that City was fully aware that they needed to address their ability to kill a game off, and have done so in the transfer market.
Having Kevin de Bruyne sit behind a striker will get City creating enough chances to win a game; it’s whether they have the right personnel to score those chances that will make all the difference.
This Saturday, Guardiola will be looking for revenge against a Tottenham side that took full advantage of City’s wasteful approach in front of goal last season. This time, Haaland will make sure they aren’t as kind when it comes to killing the game off.
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