For all the talk of expirence in the title race, this is very much a new look Manchester City. Gianluigi Donnarumma, Marc Guéhi, Rayan Aït-Nouri, Abdukodir Khusanov, Tijjani Reijnders, Nico González, Rayan Cherki, Savinho, Antoine Semenyo, Omar Marmoush and others have all been signed since their most-recent title triumph, with Cherki in particular proving to be a major difference maker.
During Sunday's 3-0 dismantling of Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, the Frenchman bagged two assists, setting up the goals scored by Nico O'Reilly and Guéhi. This means, according to WhoScored, he now leads the Premier League this season when it comes to open-play assists with nine, two more than Bruno Fernandes and Erling Haaland.
The 22 year old now has a total of nine goals and 13 assists to his name for the club, having previously set up Semenyo's goal during the FA Cup demolition of Liverpool the previous weekend. Following this latest victory in West London, Pep Guardiola labelled Cherki an "extraordinary talent", one who has certainly cemented himself as one of the first names on his team sheet.
Statistics | Rayan Cherki | Man City rank |
|---|---|---|
Minutes | 2,317 | 10th |
Goals | 9 | 3rd |
Assists | 13 | 1st |
Shots | 68 | 4th |
Big chances created | 20 | 1st |
Rayan Cherki just keeps getting better
Despite seeing relatively limited minutes before December, starting only four of the first 14 Premier League matches, Cherki has become undroppable since around Christmas time. Alongside Jérémy Doku, Semenyo, Bernardo Silva and of course Erling Haaland, they form a terrifying attacking quintet, something that Arsenal do not boast, which could prove to be the difference in the title race.
While Haaland continues to be the ultimate goal-bot, he has only bagged three goals in 13 Premier League outings since Christmas which, given his astronomically high standards, is very poor. This though is not more of a talking point as the supporting cast have really stepped up during this period.
Cherki's talent has been widely known for a long time. He joined Olympique Lyonnais as a seven year old, making his senior debut for les Gones in October 2019, racking up 185 senior appearances. Despite this, he only made his senior international debut for France as recently as last June, scoring an absolute thunderbolt during a 5-4 defeat to Spain at Neckarstadion in the Nations League semi-finals. Now though, his performances in England mean he'll surely be a central figure for Didier Deschamps come the World Cup.
Before then, having already got his hands on the EFL Cup, Cherki could add both the FA Cup and Premier League titles to his collection. Next Sunday's clash with leaders Arsenal at the Etihad is likely to be decisive, because only victory would keep the Sky Blues' destiny in their own hands. After that, they'll face Burnley, Everton, Brentford, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and Aston Villa and, as Mikel Arteta's team start to falter, every game is must win, with Cherki set to be central to their hopes.
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