Man City have three perfect fixtures to address concerning Erling Haaland trend

The Erling Haaland debate was already tiresome from the moment he sent a shot skywards in the Community Shield on his Manchester City debut.

Could he cut it in English football? Was he overrated? Is he going to make City worse? 32 goals in the following 30 games is an emphatic response to all the doubters. Haaland will win the Premier League Golden Boot this season, likely setting a new record in the process. If City win the title, he will have been one of the main factors in a season they have rarely looked at their best.

Yet a concerning trend is developing that City cannot ignore. And this weekend's glaring miss at Nottingham Forest sums up how much the Blues struggle to get results if Haaland has a rare off-day.

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When Haaland hit the bar, and followed it up with an effort best suited to rugby union than football, it brought back immediate memories of that Community Shield miss. There will be no doubts of his ability to bounce back this time, and Pep Guardiola did back his number nine to dust himself off and come again.

Forest's goal hero Chris Wood stopped short of offering Haaland advice on how to respond to a poor afternoon, saying: "He'll probably go and score a hat-trick. It ain't going to faze him. You miss opportunities as strikers but what makes a top quality striker is you forget the misses as soon as you’ve done it.

"You have to move on because there will be another chance around the corner. For him in a team like his, there will definitely another one for him on Wednesday. I’m sure he’s not bothered, he’s done more good than harm in his City career. He has been fantastic."

Quite right, and the