Kovacic's new eye for goal hides Man City's fragility

No prizes for guessing who Manchester City’s top scorer is. Yet the identity of the man second in their standings comes as more of a surprise.

- RICHARD JOLLY

Pep Guardiola’s squad contains a solitary striker, the ubiquitous Erling Haaland, but a galaxy of attacking midfield talent includes plenty with a goalscoring pedigree.

But not Mateo Kovacic. Serial Champions League winner, World Cup finalist and neat passer he may be, but the Croatian tends to be a stranger to scoring. “He is not a guy who scores goals,” said Guardiola. In a club career spanning 553 games, he had never struck twice in a match. He has now, and beyond the statistical significance – a brace already renders this his most productive league campaign in a decade – there was an importance to Kovacic’s rescue act.

City have now extended their unbeaten run at home to 50 matches in all competitions – excluding a penalty shootout against Real Madrid in which Kovacic failed to convert his spot kick – but they were trailing to Fulham until he intervened. Rodri had a habit of delivering crucial goals and, if Kovacic is yet to convince he can replicate all of the injured Spaniard’s contribution, he may have adopted that mantle, if only for one afternoon.

His maiden double still required a sizeable deflection, via Joachim Andersen for his first goal. His second, however, showed a level of technique to invite questions about why his goals are such rarities. For now, anyway, Kovacic can reflect that he has three times as many goals this season as Phil Foden, or Ilkay Gundogan, or Kevin de Bruyne.