Who needs Erling Haaland?
Manchester City, if we're being honest. A 1-0 win over Leicester was deserved and enough to temporarily send Pep Guardiola's side to the top of the table, yet the problems City faced at the King Power in turning their possession into goals was a reminder of just what their £51m man brings to the team.
It is hardly a poor supporting cast and Kevin De Bruyne's perfect free-kick proved the winner. However, having adapted their style so well away from the false nine system that has had so much success over the previous two seasons there were signs of rustiness as City reverted back to playing without a figurehead as too many balls were pumped high into the box where the diminutive Julian Alvarez was never going to compete.
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This felt, weirdly for a team that have proven themselves so many times under Guardiola, like a significant challenge. With Haaland, the scorer of nearly half of their Premier League goals this season, not fit enough for the squad after the foot injury he picked up at Dortmund, there were leigitimate questions about where the goals would come from - not least because their second top scorer Phil Foden (six league goals) was named only as a substitute.
The starting XI had just 11 goals between them in the league this season as they kicked off, with no individual having managed more than two. Up against a Leicester side who have improved significantly in recent weeks and have only conceded five goals in six league matches at the King Power this season, once again this had the look of a tricky away fixture.
The first half threatened to expose the lack of Haaland in the team. Roared on by their vocal travelling support, City certainly started with purpose and took the game to their hosts by spending half of the opening 20 minutes in their third of the pitch - but without- a breakthrough.
Rodri, Julian Alvarez and Bernardo Silva all forced saves from Danny Ward in that time so it wasn't that City weren't creating chances but the clinical edge was missing. The more balls crossed in for Alvarez to try and compete with Leicester's towering centre-backs, the more it felt City could be using the ball more wisely.
Leicester, as Guardiola knows from his nightmares featuring Jamie Vardy, are a team that only need seconds to hurt you and having been under the cosh for nearly half an hour they then produced the strongest chance of the first half when they broke a breakneck speed and Ederson had to be down sharply to save from Harvey Barnes. John Stones playing at right-back rather than Manu Akanji allowed him to move alongside Rodri when City had the ball, yet he was given a stern test running back to goal whenever Barnes tore at him.
City's lack of quality in the final third was played out in the numbers; their 181 touches in the final third was 27 more than any other team has managed in a first half this season, yet didn't manage to threaten Leicester as much as Ederson was troubled by a rare counter. As the Blues broke with a 3vs2 when injury time approached, Bernardo looked to play it through to the big man only to realise that that man was Rodri rather than Haaland.
None of that matters when you have a player of De Bruyne's quality though. With a free-kick 25 yards out in the opening two minutes into the second half, the Belgian arced the ball onto the inside of the post just below the crossbar and into the net beyond Ward's despairing dive.
That gave City the scoreboard control to match their dominance in possession, and now the onus was on Leicester to break through where they had not been able to so far. As Brendan Rodgers knows from past encounters, City are a horrible team to try to get the ball off when you are behind and chasing.
Leicester gave it more of a go than Guardiola was happy with though, unsettling the City backline on a number of occasions in the final 20 minutes as Ederson - who had made a terrific save from Youri Tielemans at 0-0 - was called upon again to preserve City's lead. The manager watched agonisingly in injury time as John Stones headed onto the back of Ruben Dias's head and the ball bounced just wide of the near post.
Yet the champions held out and this, perhaps, is what makes City the team to beat in the league this year. They may not have been at their best against Leicester after not being at their best against Dortmund, but can look back on a week that has seen them confirm top spot in their Champions League group with a week to spare and move to the top of the Premier League after around a third of their matches.
Guardiola may have talked up Arsenal, United, Newcastle, and many others in his press conference on Friday as he spoke of the ever-increasing difficulties of the competitions where the Blues are expected to win. But expectations are largely so high because the team has been so consistent for so long that they are regularly able to churn out the results that they need.
City will hope that the bruised ligament in his foot does not keep Haaland out for much longer. If he can afford to rest up for the dead rubber against Sevilla in midweek, it will make Fulham more straightforward next weekend if the big No.9 is back to lead the line.
If Alvarez is the Plan B, then Plan A is definitely the preferred option to take whenever possible.
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