Raheem Sterling is a numbers guy and right now the numbers are stacking up and up for the Manchester City and England forward.
Sterling’s majestic long-range effort to complete the 5-0 rout against Sporting CP in midweek moved him on to 127 goals for City and into 10th on the club’s list of all-time goalscorers.
Out in front, ahead of daylight and Eric Brook, is Sergio Aguero on 260. But, as these statistics compiled by StatCity show, Sterling has a strong claim when it comes to being the most influential goalscorer of the Guardiola era.
His 116 under Pep put him second behind Aguero from 2016/17 onwards, while his 82 in the Premier League are level pegging with Sergio during this period.
In the Champions League, he is now one shy of Aguero’s 22 under Guardiola, while his 39 away from home for his manager in England’s top flight are two more than anyone else.
That sense that Raheem scores heavy goals is underlined by the fact City have either taken the lead or equalised on 57 of those occasions when he has found the net.
These eye-catching figures are ticking along nicely once again now Sterling is emphatically out of his 2021 slump at club level but Guardiola knows there is more to his game - a quality that can’t be so tangibly measured.
“I saw the first half against Sporting Lisbon, you see the intensity that he goes with all his movements, defensively especially, offensively as well, so… it’s magnificent," Guardiola said of Sterling's part in City’s first-half ransacking of the Portuguese champions.
“It’s what Raheem has done in many, many years together. And for us, for me personally, I am very glad that he is back to his best because we need him.”
Sterling did not contribute an assist until setting up Bernardo Silva to make it 4-0 in Lisbon but his capacity to instantly set the tone with that tenacity Guardiola outlined is invaluable.
Similarly, he had no goal contributions in the crucial 1-0 Premier League win against Chelsea last month but Pep did not need prompting when highlighting his major contribution.
“Against Chelsea, he was one of the most decisive players that we had in playing on the right and he made an incredible movement against Marcos Alonso,” Guardiola said.
Sterling stood up the Chelsea full-back in the seventh minute, looked into the white of his eyes and hurtled past him.
It was an exhilarating piece of wing play. I’m faster than you and I can do this all day - what are you going to do about it?
Alonso's instant answer was to haul his man down and earn a booking, ensuring Chelsea's defence would be on the back foot from that point onwards and so it proved with the eventual winner from Kevin De Bruyne coming amid a retreating backline from the visitors once he had freed himself from N'Golo Kante's shackles.
During his prolonged fallow period, too many were far too relaxed over the idea of Sterling being moved on.
There will always be players such as Bernardo, De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez who are far easier on the eye but Raheem brings a visceral quality to City’s play that others don’t.
He is Guardiola’s street fighter and his importance is not lost on the manager for the battles ahead.
Where does Raheem Sterling rank among the best players of the Pep Guardiola era and how high can he finish in City's pantheon of goalscorers? Follow City Is Ours editor Dom Farrell on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
