Manchester City's 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace last weekend left the reigning champions eight points behind leaders Liverpool, who also have a game in hand.
The draw continued a run of poor form from Man City, who have claimed just one win in their last six Premier League outings and face a Manchester Derby at the Etihad next up.
Boss Pep Guardiola has come under criticism in some quarters for his team selection and in particular, the continued absence of wingers Jeremy Doku and Jack Grealish - opting for more central players such as Matheus Nunes to play out wide.
Many believe that, especially with the return of talisman Kevin De Bruyne to full fitness, Guardiola needs to revert back to having flying wingers for the Belgian to seek out with his excellent range of passing. However, the form and numbers from City's options so far this season do not make for great reading from Guardiola's perspective.
Manchester City wingers struggling to hit the heights
Man City have tried to utilise many options in the wide areas this season to find a formula of turning around their season. Savinho and Doku started the season either side of Erling Haaland, however, an injury to Doku has meant that Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Nunes have all been deployed there.
Goals are usually something that goes hand in hand with Guardiola's Man City yet there has been an over-reliance on forward Haaland this season with the midfield not chipping in as they usually do.
Erling Haaland in action for Manchester City
Haaland leads the way with 13 Premier League goals, but the next man in the charts for City is defender Josko Gvardiol and defensive midfielder Mateo Kovacic with three goals apiece.
Jeremy Doku has two Premier League goals but remarkably Foden, Grealish and Savinho are all yet to register a league goal in Man City colours this season.
Savio
If only Pep had another England international and a product of Manchester City's flourishing academy to call upon...
Man City wonderkid thriving in the Premier League
Jadon Sancho, once a product of Manchester City's academy, left the club to join Borussia Dortmund in 2017 without making a first-team appearance.
Sancho went on to make his name at Dortmund, with 120 goal contributions in 158 appearances across two spells. This sparkling form caught the attention of the hierarchy at Old Trafford with Sancho making his Manchester United move in 2021.
jadon-sancho-manchester-united
However, the England winger struggled to adapt at United, making just 18 goal contributions in 83 appearances across three seasons. This meant a summer move to Chelsea, where Sancho finally seems to have found a home to help his undoubted talent flourish.
As it happens, Sancho is currently outperforming Man City's wide attacking options in many different areas.
Sancho v City wingers 24/25
Metric
Goals
Assists
Shots on target
Pass completion
Ball recoveries
Statistics via FBref
Not only is Sancho leading the way in terms of goals and assists compared to City's options, he also has the highest percentage of shots on target throughout the season.
With Guardiola priding his teams on keeping possession, Sancho is only second to Jack Grealish in terms of pass completion and in a side struggling to keep clean sheets, interestingly, the former is only bettered by Savinho in winning the ball back for his Chelsea side. A statistic that goes somewhat against the grain of Sancho's 'lazy' label.
If the former United winger can keep his current form up at Stamford Bridge, Guardiola may begin to look on even more with envy at an academy product that slipped away.
Manchester-City-Txixi-Phillips-Pep Related
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It hasn't worked out for the star at Man City