Jack Grealish might need a new statistic to prove his new Man City status

Jack Grealish has played eight times for Manchester City this season, scoring just one goal. He's only got seven goals in total for the club since joining, plus four assists, and is nowhere near his electric form for Aston Villa that persuaded City to pay £100m for his services.

Yet Grealish admitted after his Man of the Match performance versus Copenhagen on Wednesday that he is 'close to being the Jack Grealish that I was.' Pep Guardiola is delighted with his form, and the fans are loving his improvement this season.

He may not be chipping in with the goals or assists, but Grealish is proving to be undroppable for City on current form. Guardiola has long-insisted that City are not focussing on his headline metrics of goal contributions, although an analysis of his recent form suggests they would only be looking in the wrong place if they did.

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After an under-par performance against Borussia Dortmund, Grealish received some predictable criticism from those waiting for him to replicate his Villa form, patting themselves on the back for pointing out that he's not scoring as many goals for City as he did at Villa Park.

It's true that Grealish took time to get going last season, although his record of starting key games this term shows Guardiola is finally ready to trust him in this system. It's not a coincidence that by moving Phil Foden over to the right, and with Raheem Sterling gone, Grealish is benefitting from knowing the left-wing spot is his to lose.

And for the last three games, he's shown exactly what he can do with a run of starts in the same position, coupled with a better knowledge of what Guardiola wants him to do. His