Man City's own 'Kane and Son' partnership are three goals away from two more records

It feels like an age since Pep Guardiola was telling Kevin De Bruyne to go back to basics, and batting away questions of whether Erling Haaland is suitable for Manchester City.

In reality, De Bruyne was under pressure as recently as one week ago, and those questions about Haaland will return as soon as he fails to score again - despite his 42 goals and counting this season. As Haaland scored a ridiculous nine goals in his last 136 minutes of football (averaging one every 15 minutes), De Bruyne was quietly brilliant behind him.

Of City's 14 goals last week, only two were not scored or assisted by De Bruyne and Haaland. While Haaland has eight goals, De Bruyne has assisted three, taking his tally to 21 for the season. For all the records Haaland is chasing, De Bruyne is closing in on one or two of his own.

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From the outside, De Bruyne is having a below-par season, with that view supported by Guardiola's public challenges this month and also back in October to get more from his talisman.

It's easy to forget that De Bruyne is not like most other Premier League players, though, and his 'below-par' is still a ridiculously high standard. His 21 assists and six goals for the campaign put him two goals away from his third-best return at City, having already surpassed 2018/19's total of 17 goals or assists.

Sitting on 27 with at least 14 games left, he has twice recorded 28 and once reached 29. After that, he got 22 goals or assists in 2021/22 and 2017/18. He needs 12 goal contributions to equal his best-ever 39 from his record-breaking 2019/20 season (although he'd argue he reached 40 that year).

In terms of assists, De Bruyne has 11