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Erling Haaland could open up simple plan B for Man City that unlocks Jack Grealish potential

Kevin De Bruyne already has six assists in the Premier League this season, with three setting up Erling Haaland to score.

The Manchester City playmaker's assists have dropped slightly in the last two seasons after his record-equalling haul of 20 in 2019/20, and a simple explanation for that would be the absence of Sergio Aguero or any recognisable striker in that period.

Now, Haaland has arrived and scored 14 goals in all competitions already, and De Bruyne looks to be a beneficiary of having a world-class poacher always waiting in the box. It's no surprise that two of his assists for Haaland have been crosses from the right (with another also a cross from that side, but to Phil Foden, who had run into space vacated by Haaland).

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It seems that with Haaland always waiting, City are prepared to put plenty of crosses into the box, whether it be from an underlapping or overlapping midfielder - someone like De Bruyne or Foden - or a deeper cross from Joao Cancelo, Foden or Bernardo Silva.

The players know Haaland will be there, so there is now less risk to putting crosses into the box than there may have been last season where players took it in turn to play out of position as a false nine. A look at City's crossing statistics for the season so far and last season as a whole suggests that crossing the ball is becoming a more viable tactic.

Last season, City averaged 23 crosses per game, although only 19 per cent (4.4 per game) of those were accurate. This season, City are actually averaging fewer crosses per game at 21, but six of those are finding a Blue shirt with an accuracy of 28 per cent. Pep Guardiola hates losing possession

Read more on manchestereveningnews.co.uk