YOU may remember that Manchester City lost 2-0 to Crystal Palace at the end of October.
Since then, Pep Guardiola’s well-oiled machine have won nine Premier League games on the bounce.
Both Chelsea and Liverpool are now six points adrift off the reigning champions, although the Reds have a game in hand after Covid-19 disruptions.
It’s not just City’s relentlessly positive results that appear ominous for the rest of the league, it’s the confident nature of their recent performances.
The Citizens have scored 17 goals in their last three games at the expense of Leeds, Newcastle and Leicester.
Pretty much every attack-minded player (and a few defensive ones too) has cashed in at some point during this prosperous run but Raheem Sterling (£4.7m) has enjoyed himself in particular.
The 27-year-old has scored eight goals in his last ten appearances in club colours.
Naturally, this fruitful spell has translated to Dream Team success – he’s banked 63 points in the last six Game Weeks.
This is quite a turnaround for Sterling who was relatively starved of playing time during the first third of the season and consequently mustered just 13 points by Game Week 7.
The England international was rumoured to be seeking a transfer away from the Etihad and was one of the names mentioned in regards to Newcastle’s imminent splurge of Saudi cash.
However, much like Bernardo Silva (£3.6m), Sterling has followed transfer speculation by re-establishing himself as a key figure among the usual rotation.
Sterling has played more games under Guardiola than any other player during the Spaniard’s coaching career and he’s become an expert at providing the finishing touch for the decorated tactician’s favourite goal – how many tap-ins from cutbacks has he scored in recent years?
His anticipation, speed, positioning and understanding of City’s build-up patterns have made him a prolific scorer of short-range goals and Dream Team bosses would be wise to consider him during this fine spell of form.
He also takes the occasional penalty, which is always helpful.
With an ownership of 14.2%, Sterling is the sixth-most popular midfielder in the game at the time of writing.
His overall points tally of 89 points is bettered by only seven assets in his position and with City in such dominant form, he is likely to break into the top five before the end of January.
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