Jeremy Doku has four goals in three games for Manchester City and is in a rich vein of form as the Blues try to chase down Arsenal at the top of the Premier League table
Manchester City's midfielder Jeremy Doku celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the English Premier League football match between City and Brentford at the Etihad Stadium
Jeremy Doku scored for Manchester City against Brentford on Saturday to continue his fine form
View Image
If Manchester City pull off an improbable Premier League title success this season, they'll have a lot to thank Jeremy Doku for.
The Blues have barely topped the table all season but the weekend win over Brentford extends the title battle with Arsenal into the final week of the campaign. The Gunners remain huge favourites, knowing their destiny is in their own hands but City have refused to give in and still have a puncher's chance.
That they do is down in no small part to Doku, who has been City's standout performer in recent weeks. His stunning strike to open the scoring against a resolute Brentford was his fifth goal in his last six games and came five days on from a brace at Everton, which included a last-gasp leveller to earn what could be a priceless point.
The Belgian winger has seven goal involvements in his last six club outings, as many as he managed in his previous 24 matches. The sharp rise points to a player at the top of his game and the 23-year-old admits the challenge now is to marry confidence with consistency.
"I've always been a confident player," he said, speaking after the win over Brentford. "Obviously now the goals are there. But in terms of play, I've always played like this. But now there are goals added. So I'll just try to find those spaces, try to shoot again. And continue like this, have the consistency.
Doku's early City career was frequented with chat about end product and the player himself spoke ahead of the Carabao Cup final about his desire to improve his goal and assist tally to elevate him into the top bracket of widemen in the game.
"The goals are coming," he added. "Assists too. So I just have to continue like this. I'll be assisting. I know where I can be. I know where I want to go."
Pep Guardiola has shown faith and belief in the former Rennes man, with Doku making 43 appearances this campaign and the relationship between player and manager is a close one.
"Pep has always been there for me, always helped me, always gave me confidence," said Doku. "He has been playing me a lot this season. So I'm grateful for his confidence. And he helped me. He gave me a lot of confidence in my game and taught me a lot while working with him. So it's also thanks to him."
Guardiola has often waxed lyrical about Doku's dribbling ability and feels he can mix it with the likes of Vinicius Jr and Lamine Yamal as the world's best wingers.
"Yeah, for sure," said the City chief. "And always accept being pushed. Always accept that. And that is so nice. We are really pleased. But not now, since I arrived. Now he is winning games, goals, obviously. But always he has been really, really good."
He added: "If you want to become a better player, you have to win games for yourselves. It is not enough to make good crosses for the other ones, you have to win games and score goals.
"At Everton, the goal for 3-3 was the right [foot], but the first goal was the left. He made an incredible step in that sense to say 'I'm Jeremy Doku, I'm going to win games'. The big players always have that mentality."