"Not any more" - Pundit makes surprise Erling Haaland claims as he predicts Manchester City vs Aston Villa result
BBC pundit Chris Sutton has said that he can no longer predict the outcome of Manchester City games with absolute certainty. City have a double gameweek coming up, with their first clash being against Aston Villa.
Writing in his BBC column, Sutton spoke about City's game against Unai Emery's side. He wrote:
"At the start of the season I felt like I could predict Manchester City games with my eyes closed. Not any more."
City's 1-0 loss against Tottenham Hotspur saw them fail to close the gap on Arsenal, who had earlier lost 1-0 to Everton.
"Pep Guardiola's side missed a massive chance to put the pressure on Arsenal when they lost at Tottenham last weekend. Their drop-off in form this season has not been in the same bracket as Liverpool's, but I look at them and wonder when they are going to turn the corner, performance-wise."
Sutton also spoke about Erling Haaland's influence on the team.
"There is this great debate about whether Erling Haaland has made them better or worse but I don't see him as the problem. Too many of the City players around him have seen their levels dip, and the team have not been playing at their usual tempo or with their normal slickness of passing."
Predicting that Manchester City have to work hard to get the win against Villa, Sutton said:
"I still think they will beat Aston Villa, and I also believe Haaland will score, but it might be a slog. We know how hard Unai Emery's sides can be to break down, and they will carry a threat too."
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City were recently charged with over 100 sanctions by the Premier League for financial irregularities. Sutton believes it will help City gather into a siege mentality.
"What should help City is that their fans will be in defiant mood after the club were hit with 100-plus charges by the Premier League at the start of the week. There will be a siege mentality at Etihad Stadium and that should create the kind of atmosphere that Guardiola has been asking for recently. It will be the same in the dressing room too, if the players think everyone is against them, and that should fire them up."
Sutton predicted a 2-0 win for the Cityzens.
Manchester City trailing Arsenal by five points, having played one game more
Manchester City are currently on 45 points after 21 games. Arsenal lead the table with 50 points after 20 games. The two teams are poised to play each other this midweek in what will be a must-win match for Guardiola's men.
Arsenal will face Brentford before that on Saturday.