With 11 games to go this season, Manchester City face a real fight to get into next season's Champions League.
Having beaten Tottenham last time out, Erling Braut Håland the only scorer in North London, Pep Guardiola's team sit fourth, but six clubs, down to Aston Villa in tenth, are five points or fewer behind.
Manchester-City
Next up, on Saturday lunchtime, the Sky Blues will face the side one place and one point above them, namely Nottingham Forest, and if the Citizens are going to collect three points at the City Ground, it might be time for Guardiola to unleash his relentless attacking star.
Jack Grealish's continued underwhelming form
Jack Grealish started last weekend's FA Cup victory over Plymouth Argyle, but has not started a Premier League fixture since before Christmas, and his statistics underline why.
Manchester City's Jack Grealish
Sam Lee of the Athletic has described his performances this season as 'underwhelming', caveating that by adding his campaign has been 'hampered by injuries'.
Nevertheless, it's now 448 days, and counting, since the 29-year-old's most recent Premier League goal, having scored twice so far this season, converting a penalty during the 8-0 demolition of Salford, also on target in defeat at Paris Saint-Germain, both in January.
In total, Grealish has scored just 16 goals in 151 appearances for the Sky Blues, an underwhelming return for someone who cost £100m, at the time a British transfer record.
Grealish has himself admitted this has been the "most difficult year of my life", with Richard Jolly of the Independent believing he is 'wasting his talent', while Oliver Kay in the Athletic labels him 'beyond disappointing'.
Chalkboard FFC
Chalkboard
So, instead of starting Grealish, Guardiola should include Man City's more recent big-money arrival in attack on Saturday.
Manchester City's perfect Grealish replacement
Manchester City signed Omar Marmoush from Eintracht Frankfurt for a reported fee of £63m in January, but the Egyptian striker has already, in only eight appearances for the club, started to prove his worth.
The 26-year-old scored the first-ever senior hat-trick of his career against Newcastle last month, after which strike partner Håland labelled him "something special" and "a fantastic player".
Prior to his move to Manchester, Marmoush had been on fire for Frankfurt this season, scoring 20 goals in just 26 appearances, averaging a goal every 103 minutes, leading to analyst Ben Mattinson describing him as "relentless".
So, let's see how his numbers compare to Grealish.
Jack Grealish vs Omar Marmoush 2024/25 comparison
Statistics
Appearances
Minutes
Goals
Assists
Goals - xG
Shots on target per 90
Shots on target %
Take on success %
Shot-creating actions per 90
Touches per 90
Statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt and FBref.com
Unsurprisingly, Marmoush comes out on top for most attacking metrics, albeit Grealish ranks higher for creative statistics per 90, namely take-on success percentage, touches per 90 and shot-creating actions per 90.
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Nevertheless, the Egyptian is far superior in terms of shots, shot accuracy, assists and goals, with Marmoush massively overperforming his xG this season, racking up a figure of +7.7; for comparison, the player in the Premier League this season with the highest figure is Chris Wood on +7.4, who he'll be facing on Saturday.
So, up against a Forest team who rank fourth in the Premier League this season for both goals conceded and xG allowed, as well as second for clean sheets, goals will not be easy to come by, hence why Guardiola must start his superstar new attacker.
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