Former Manchester City defender Richard Dunne believes a ‘congested’ strike force has blunted Erling Haaland.
Haaland leads the Premier League’s Golden Boot tally with 22 goals to his name, three ahead of Brentford marksman Igor Thiago who is second in the standings.
What makes the Norwegian’s league-topping haul all the more impressive is that since a 3-0 win over West Ham United on December 20, when he scored twice, Haaland has scored from open play just once.
Stay humble, eh?
In fact, Haaland has just three goals from open play in his last 19 appearances across all competitions.
It is a worrying run of form that has coincided with City exiting the Champions League in the round of 16 at the hands of Real Madrid and falling further behind Arsenal in the Premier League title race.
Dunne, who made over 350 appearances for City between 2000 and 2010, believes Haaland’s woes have coincided with the January arrival of Antoine Semenyo from Bournemouth.
Semenyo sizzles
While Haaland’s goals have dried up, Semenyo has netted five times in nine league fixtures since he became a City player.
Yet Dunne believes he knows the solution to get Haaland firing again as he implored City boss Pep Guardiola to reinstate a tactical tweak from the past.
Dunne’s verdict on how to fix Haaland’s woes
When asked what’s gone wrong for Haaland as of late, Dunne said on talkSPORT’s Weekend Breakfast: “It’s almost like there’s too many attack-minded players in the team and people are getting in his way.
“Semenyo’s goals are all coming from areas that he’s normally in.
“Two of them are playing up front and it seems… He doesn’t know what runs to make because there are people already in those spaces.
“It’s three goals from open play in 19 games for him, which is an incredible return considering what he’s done previously.
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“It sounds simple, but if you could go back two years and just play that 4-3-3 with the wingers and the centre forward in there on his own, it created so many chances.
“It just seems a little bit congested at times.”
Up for the Cup
There are few better times for Haaland to return to form than on Sunday, as City face Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final.
It is a trophy City know well, having won it an impressive six times between 2014 and 2021.
As for the Gunners, victory at Wembley would secure the club’s first trophy since they won the FA Cup in 2020.
It would also be just the second piece of silverware in the Mikel Arteta era as they look to move one step closer to a potential quadruple.
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Given Arsenal are leading the Premier League and have not lost in their last six fixtures against City across all competitions, Dunne has tipped the Gunners as favourites for the Carabao Cup final.
City as… underdogs?
However, the former Ireland great has backed Guardiola to ‘pull something out of the hat’ and end Arsenal’s hopes for the quadruple.
“They’ve (City) not been anywhere near the levels they would expect to be,” Dunne said.
“I think Arsenal go into it as massive favourites. City need to come up with something.
“I keep waiting for them for the last few months thinking they’re going to hit top form, to find their rhythm, but it’s just not happening for them.
“It’s a bit of an ask for them today, but you’re trying to hope Pep can pull something out of the hat and give them some base to go on and win it.”
The Carabao Cup final kicks off at 4:30pm and you can listen to live commentary on talkSPORT.
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