Erling Haaland goal drought can be Man City's secret weapon vs Inter Milan

All year opposition defences have been trying to work out how to stop Erling Haaland from scoring for Manchester City. Now they seem to have managed it, and Ilkay Gundogan has taken over the goalscoring mantle.

Gundogan has six goals and two assists from his last six games for City, scoring title-winning braces against Leeds and Everton, an FA Cup final brace against Manchester United and adding an assist at Real Madrid for good measure. Haalandonly has a goal and an assist in that time, with six blanks from his last seven games.

His four-game run without a goal is his longest in a City shirt, and he hasn't gone as many games without a goal since April 2021, when he went six games for club and country without scoring, including two Champions League defeats to City.

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In the grander scheme of things, Haaland's blip is hardly much of a concern. He has 52 goals and nine assists from 52 games and countless records to show for an incredible debut season. It's understandable if the long season has caught up with him, or if defences have finally realised how to stop him after a half-century of attempts.

The beauty of this City side is that when one player isn't performing, another steps up. Not for the first time, Gundogan has scored the big goals over the last month, getting City over the line in the Premier League and FA Cup. Haaland won't feel like his winners' medals are any less valuable having not had the final say, especially given his 36 league goals and FA Cup quarter-final hat-trick.

Given the way he celebrated winning the Premier League and FA Cup trophies, he didn't seem too upset that he wasn't the one