There's a lot of talk about champions Liverpool and league-leaders Arsenal, but recently dethroned four in a row serial champions Manchester City cannot be counted out of this title race.
Last time out, Pep Guardiola's team battled to a 1-0 victory over Brentford, with Erling Haaland, who else, the only scorer in West London.
Manchester-City-Erling-Haaland
The goalbot himself has now scored 12 of the 19 goals Manchester City have managed in the Premier League and Champions League this season, that's 63%, as well as bagging eight across his last two appearances for Norway, scoring a hat-trick, as well as missing two penalties, during Saturday's 5-0 demolition of Israel at the Ullevål.
In seven of the last eight Premier League seasons, including each of the last five, the team that has scored the most goals has gone on to win the title, so is Pep Guardiola building an unstoppable attacking duo, featuring Haaland of course, one that can rival anything that has come before at the Etihad?
Manchester City's best strike partnerships
Since being taken over by the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment in 2008, Manchester City supporters have enjoyed watching numerous high-quality centre-forwards.
Sergio Aguero Man City stats (timeless)
Haaland's frankly mind-boggling numbers have raised the standard to an astronomical level, but that should not denigrate his predecessors, so let's outline Manchester City's highest-scoring attacking duos from the pre-Haaland era.
Man City's top-scoring partners (2008-2022)
Players
Agüero &
Sterling|18/19|57|
|Agüero &
Džeko|13/14|54|
|Agüero &
Sterling|19/20|54|
|Agüero &
Sterling|17/18|53|
|Agüero &
Džeko|11/12|49|
|Agüero &
De Bruyne|15/16|45|
|Agüero &
David Silva|14/15|44|
|Tévez &
Adebayor|09/10|43|
|Agüero &
Sterling|16/17|43|
|Maḥrez &
De Bruyne|21/22|43|
|Stats via Transfermarkt|
As the table documents, during his time in Manchester, Sergio Agüero formed a deadly partnership with pretty much everybody, currently the club's all-time record scorer with 260, although Haaland already has 136.
While the Agüero-Sterling pairing may have bagged the most goals in 2018/19, in terms of pure strike partnerships, one has to look back to 2013/14 when the Citizens won the Premier League title under Manuel Pellegrini.
sergio-aguero-man-city-premier-league-golden-boot
That season, Agüero and Edin Džeko scored 54 goals between them, while Yaya Touré and Álvaro Negredo also surpassed the 20 goals mark, as the Sky Blues bagged 102 league goals, netting 156 times overall, winning the title and the League Cup.
Of course, these numbers appear puny when compared to those of their Norwegian powerhouse, bagging 52 by himself during his first season at the club, but who could become Haaland's own Džeko?
Haaland goal record (timeless)
Manchester City's next great strike partnership
As already outlined, Haaland is scoring a very high proportion of Manchester City's goals this season, which has to be a concern for Guardiola.
However, could the return of Omar Marmoush help solve this issue?
The Egyptian suffered a knee ligament injury in the September international break, hobbling off during the Pharaohs' World Cup qualifier against Burkina Faso in Ouagadougou, but is expected to be back soon, potentially involved in Saturday's clash with Everton.
MixCollage-20-May-2025-09-45-PM-1054-1
Omar Marmoush Manchester City
After arriving from Eintracht Frankfurt in January for £59m, the 26-year-old made quite the early impression in Sky Blue.
By the end of the campaign, only five players had scored more Bundesliga goals than Marmoush, despite the fact he only featured in the first half of the season, departing having bagged 15 goals in 17 appearances.
Once at Man City, he added eight more goals to his tally, including a hat-trick against Newcastle, before this sublime strike against Bournemouth that won Premier League goal of the season.
When he signed, Marmoush stated that he hoped himself and Haaland will "enjoy playing together", and there were positive signs when it comes to their burgeoning partnership.
Mustapha Hassan of Total Football Analysis believes having both at his disposal presents Guardiola with a 'tactical wildcard', concluding that Marmoush's versatility and off-ball movement can make the partnership work, with the Norwegian very much the focal point.
Their hulking striker aside, Phil Foden was Man City's top-scorer last season with 13, three of which came at the Club World Cup, while the same can be said this season; the Englishman the only other player with multiple goals, on target against the once mighty Manchester United and Huddersfield.
Phil-Foden-1
Whether it be due to injury, fatigue or a drop-off in form, not that there's been one yet, Man City surely cannot solely rely on Haaland to score all the goals all the time forever.
Thus, the return of Marmoush could be a somewhat under-the-radar massive boost to their Premier League title aspirations.
The Citizens' next three league fixtures are Everton (H), Aston Villa (A) and then Bournemouth (H), all very winnable, before Liverpool come to town on 9 November, a huge litmus test for both, so will the Sky Blues have their own free-scoring Egyptian King by then, linking up with Haaland just as Agüero and Džeko did together over a decade ago?