Glenn Murray has praised Manchester City for the way they have scored goals without having Erling Haaland in the team.
The Norwegian has recently made his return to action after spending some weeks out on the sidelines with an ankle injury.
With the centre-forward now back in the frame, one pundit has highlighted how the Citizens managed to cope without their talisman in the team for such a lengthy period of time.
Murray hails City’s period without Haaland
Speaking on Football Focus (via BBC Sport) ahead of the Everton match, Murray had this to say on the matter.
He said: “When you see Phil Foden hitting hat-tricks and Kevin De Bruyne pulling the strings in midfield, Man City only really need to get one man back fit and firing and it looks like it could be all over.
“Once Erling Haaland finds the back of the net they’ll be cooking, won’t they?
“But one surprising fact is that they have scored 39 goals since Haaland’s last competitive goal, so even without him they have dealt really well and found ways to score.”
As a result of his ankle issue, City went through five Premier League games without Haaland against Luton Town, Crystal Palace, Everton, Sheffield United and Newcastle United, winning four and drawing one.
Across those five league games, the Manchester club found the back of the net 12 times, with players such as Julian Alvarez, Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden, among others, adding to their respective tallies for the campaign.
Haaland’s latest appearance saw him score both of City’s goals in their 2-0 win over Everton at the Etihad Stadium, which shows that he is now back in the rhythm of finding the back of the net.
While Murray is right to praise the other City players for scoring in Haaland’s absence, if they can keep doing that as well as help the striker score his own goals, this would surely give Pep Guardiola’s side a great chance of regaining the Premier League title.
