Haaland half and out
The Premier League may soon reach the conclusion that the best way of stopping Erling Haaland is for Pep Guardiola to leave him out of the team.
Manchester City players are regularly rotated and the same has been promised of the new No.9, yet in a game against Nottingham Forest that seemed an ideal time to rest he started instead and scored another hat-trick. Try leaving out a player after that.
If anyone can do it, Guardiola can, and City have been keen not to overload Haaland with minutes after he struggled with some injuries last season. At the same time, a player that has shown he can score three goals inside 45 minutes twice already could already be changing the manager's thinking.
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While there may undoubtedly be matches where he is named on the bench, his ability to have an instant impact - and the ability to make five substitutions now - could mean that he plays more than originally intended because if he plays as he can there will be little need for him to play 90 minutes every week.
Record for Haaland
Haaland can become the first player in Premier League history to score hat-tricks in three consecutive appearances if he does the business at Aston Villa. It sounds ludicrous, but then so did back-to-back hat-tricks and here we are.
Four men in English football have achieved the feat: Tottenham's Frank Osborne (1925), Leeds' Tom Jennings (1926), Everton's Dixie Dean (1928) and Liverpool's Jack Balmer (1946). Haaland would be achieving something not seen in over 75 years.
Grealish to be missed?
There's no question that Aston Villa have missed Jack Grealish, but City are likely to find things tougher if he is not fit enough to be included against his former club.
Last season he came off the bench for the final stages, but it was a crucial cameo that took the sting out of Villa's momentum by keeping the ball away from them and slowing the tempo down. As well as City have fared without him in the last few games, Guardiola has still lamented the inability of the attack to pause and take a beat at times.
Bernardo, running down the wing
The transfer window has closed and Bernardo Silva is still a City player. Despite his own admission about wanting to leave, the playmaker remains adored by the supporters who have sung his name even louder than ever this season.
That should continue at Villa Park where the away end needs no encouragement to get going - especially if Bernardo can repeat the goal-of-the-season effort he managed in this fixture last year.
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