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Manchester City’s lack of a prolific forward could be costly

Manchester City’s lack of a prolific forward could be costly
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Without a doubt, Manchester City were the best team in the Premier League last season, as the Citizens were crowned as English champions. Pep Guardiola’s team often played teams off the pitch.

However, their last three competitive matches have shone a light on a weakness in the champions team, actually putting the ball into the back of the net. City have now failed to score against Chelsea, Leicester and Tottenham.

There just seems to be something missing amid all that possession and attacking promise. That something is a prolific goalscorer. The exit of Sergio Aguero left City with just one senior forward in Gabriel Jesus.

Some will say that Aguero missed most of last season, while Jesus has never really convinced Guardiola as a long-term option. So much so that Spanish attacking midfielder Ferran Torres was selected ahead of him up front last time out.

The Citizens have been continually linked with Tottenham and England captain Harry Kane. The 28-year-old is reportedly keen on the move.

City have already seen a reported bid of around £120m turned down by the north London club. Time is running out until the summer transfer window shuts.

However, it is believed that City and Kane have not given up on a move taking place before the transfer window closes.

The alternative to Kane is City hoping that their attacking midfielders and Jesus can score enough goals to take them to glory. Without Aguero for much of last season, they did the job very well.

However, it is difficult to expect them to be prolific all season. Last season German midfielder Ilkay Gundogan scored a career-high 13 league goals, his previous record was just six in a season. He is unlikely to enjoy a similar goal-laden campaign.

Without a top striker, City may still have enough to retain their top-flight crown. However, signing a top striker would make them an even more difficult team to stop.

Premier League
OVERALL TABLE PTS GP W D L +/-
1
Arsenal 80 35 25 5 5 57
2
Manchester City 79 34 24 7 3 50
3
Liverpool 75 35 22 9 4 41
4
Aston Villa 67 35 20 7 8 21
5
Tottenham 60 34 18 6 10 13
6
Manchester United 54 34 16 6 12 1
7
Newcastle United 53 34 16 5 13 19
8
Chelsea 51 34 14 9 11 6
9
West Ham 49 35 13 10 12 -9
10
Bournemouth 48 35 13 9 13 -8
11
Wolverhampton 46 35 13 7 15 -7
12
Brighton 44 34 11 11 12 -5
13
Fulham 43 35 12 7 16 -4
14
Crystal Palace 40 35 10 10 15 -12
15
Everton 36 35 12 8 15 -11
16
Brentford 35 35 9 8 18 -8
17
Nottingham Forest 26 35 7 9 19 -20
18
Luton Town 25 35 6 7 22 -29
19
Burnley 24 35 5 9 21 -32
20
Sheffield United 16 35 3 7 25 -63

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