Despite not starting the 2025/26 season in perfect fashion, one thing that Manchester City have not had trouble with in their five Premier League games so far is finding the back of the net. According to Understat, there are just four sides that have scored more than City’s nine goals so far this term.
Indeed, Pep Guardiola’s side have been consistent in front of goal this season. The Citizens have the fourth-highest expected goals tally in the English top flight, with 8.8xG. That means they’re exceeding it by just 0.2xG so far, showing extreme consistency.
It is no surprise that City’s goalscoring form has coincided with Erling Haaland’s fine form.
Haaland’s start to the 2025/26 season
There is a certain inevitability about Norwegian striker Haaland. The 25-year-old has been one of the best strikers in the Premier League since he first moved to East Manchester.
His record for City currently stands at 131 goals in just 152 games.
This season, the former Borussia Dortmund star simply cannot stop scoring.
He’s already found the back of the net seven times in just six appearances, which included two goals per game against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester United on derby day.
There has been a constant debate over the past 12 months over who is the better striker, Haaland or new Liverpool recruit Alexander Isak. Of course, the Swede scored 23 times in the top flight last season, finishing second in the Golden Boot race behind new teammate Mohamed Salah.
It is not easy to settle. Sky Sports’ Lewis Jones used data to assess the pair. This shows Isak to be “the more complete footballer”, although when he posed the question of who he would want to score a goal for his life, he said it “has to be Haaland.”
Well, in actual fact, City once sold a striker who now ranks close to Isak in numbers and shone in the 2024/25 campaign.
City already sold their answer to Isak
Imagine a team with both Isak and Haaland leading the line. That would certainly be a strike partnership that would be nigh on impossible to stop. Actually, Guardiola had something similar at the club, with a former player.
One of the most exciting duos up front in recent times was certainly Haaland partnered with Julian Alvarez. The Argentine striker was excellent for City before moving to Atletico Madrid last summer, where he has excelled.
During his time at the Etihad Stadium, the 2022 World Cup winner scored 36 goals and assisted 19 in 103 games for the club.
However, he only played 6007 minutes and averaged just 66 full games. That left him with a goals and assists per game record on average of 0.8.
Since moving to the Spanish capital, Alvarez has once again shone. In 63 appearances, he’s found the back of the net 33 times and grabbed a further nine assists. 29 of those strikes came last season, with eight assists also coming in 59 games.
It is for that reason that Argentine journalist Roy Nemer called him “the best forward in the world” back in March. This term, that forward has four goals and an assist in six La Liga games already.
If the stats from the past year are anything to go by, Alvarez really could have been Guardiola’s own Isak.
The pair are deemed to be statistically similar, as per FBref, both averaging 0.2 goals per shot and similar goal-creating action numbers each game, where Alvarez averages 0.49 and Isak 0.45.
Goals
0.64
0.74
Goals per shot
0.2
0.2
Key passes
1.55
1.33
Shot-creating actions
3.92
2.98
Goal-creating actions
0.49
0.45
Perhaps, on reflection, the decision to sell Alvarez last summer was one Guardiola regret. Having both he and Haaland in the same side was a luxury they enjoyed for a few seasons, but they could have had their own Isak in the side and been even more imperious.
He really could have been City’s answer to Isak and made them an even bigger threat in front of goal.