The figures show that Manchester City wins more without Erling Braut Haaland

– I prefer to have Erling at my disposal rather than not having him. Is that enough? Well. Next question, says Guardiola to VG after the 4-0 victory over Brighton on Thursday evening.

Haaland was not in the squad for the second match in a row, after he left the pitch against Real Madrid with a minor injury just over a week ago.

Guardiola suggests that Haaland could be back as early as against Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

– He said he feels better, but I don’t know (if he will make it).

Nevertheless, the figures show that City are doing just as well – if not better – without Haaland this season:

The graphics are from www.sofascore.com

The numbers still don’t tell the whole story, says Sam Lee in The Athletic.

– If this had been Haaland’s first season, we might have wondered how well this works. But we know it works, they won “The Treble” last season, he says.

He points out that Manchester City’s problem in parts of the season has been bigger than Haaland, that there are other parts of the machinery that have been missing or not working.

– One solution could be not to play with Haaland in everyone Matches. Does it make sense to use other players in matches where Haaland gets few touches? But when the team works, Haaland usually works too, he says.

That said: When the machinery doesn’t work, they enjoy a player like Julian Alvarez more, Lee believes. It provides more stability.

However, Belgian Kevin De Bruyne took charge with this gem against Brighton:

Haaland has missed two periods for Manchester City this season, the longest when he was out with a so-called stress fracture in December and January.

Since his return, he has not produced the incredible numbers of his habit in front of goal, with 12 goals in 17 games (five of the goals came in the same game against Luton in the FA Cup).

This has led to sometimes fierce criticism, perhaps most of all because of his controversial skills in the court game.

Especially after the top game against Arsenal and the Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid, the criticism was strong.

– Guardiola uses him in most matches, even in matches where he has very few touches. And he keeps the defenders busy. The problem with that is that if he doesn’t score on the chances he gets, which has been the case quite a bit this season, he doesn’t contribute as much in other parts of the game. Then it might be better to play with someone else, who contributes more overall, says Sam Lee.

Manchester City’s 4-0 win over Brighton means they remain on course to win the Premier League if they win all of their remaining five games: