Manchester City’s star striker Sergio Aguero has failed to find the net in five games since his returned from a five week injury lay-off
Manchester City are currently in desperate need of inspiration and the man who so often provides that inspiration Argentinian superstar Sergio Aguero is currently struggling to provide it.
At the weekend the reigning champions stumbled to a 1-1 home draw against struggling Hull, but needed a late James Milner goal to avoid defeat.
The draw coupled with Chelsea’s 2-1 win at Aston Villa has put the Citizens seven points behind the league leaders at the top of the Premier League table.
Midweek
Both clubs have fixtures in the Premier League on Wednesday night. City have a potentially tricky visit to Stoke’s Britannia Stadium, while Chelsea hosts Everton at Stamford Bridge in what currently looks like the easier of the two fixtures.
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Sergio Aguero picked up a knee injury in December which sidelined him for five weeks. Since his return a month ago he has not scored a goal in his five appearances for the Citizens.
It is especially worrying for City considering the red hot form the Argentinian was in prior to his injury, which yielded 19 goals in 21 appearances. That form now seems to be a distant memory as the diminutive striker attempts to recover from that injury lay-off.
Recovery
Sergio Aguero has been very injury-prone in the last few seasons. When fit he is arguably the best out-and-out striker in the Premier League, if not European football. The problem is that when he picks up injuries he takes a while to regain his fitness and form when he returns.
Aguero does have assists in consecutive games, but a problem for City is that he is their main goalscoring threat and he is struggling to find the net. He came close to scoring against Hull, smashing an effort against the bar, but that first goal since his return remains elusive.
Needed
Aguero’s teammates know how important it is that the striker starts scoring again. City and international teammate Pablo Zabaleta told Sky Sports: “We need Sergio to come back to his best like he was in November, December when he was doing everything for the team – scoring goals, working hard for the team.
“But after being injured for a long time for some players it is difficult to come back to his best, in terms of fitness.
“I am sure Sergio will come back to his best. It is about confidence as well. The strikers need to feel they are in a good moment. Scoring goals is the best thing for them and I am sure as soon as Sergio scores one goal then he will again be one of the best strikers in the league.”
Streaks
As Zabaleta eluded to, Aguero is a streaky striker in that he tends to go on runs of scoring lots of goals in a short space of time, usually prior to enduring a frustrating injury lay-off. When Aguero finds the net it is pretty much inevitable that the goals will start flowing again.
He just needs that initial goal to start that flow and no doubt he will back amongst the goals again. Despite enduring an injury lay-off Aguero is still the Premier League’s second highest scorer this season with 14 goals and is second favourite to claim the English golden boot at odds of 15/8, with only Chelsea’s Diego Costa shorter odds.
The Spanish international will miss Chelsea’s next two games through suspension, so Aguero does have a chance to make up ground on the 17-goal Brazilian-born striker.
Opportunity
The Britannia Stadium is not an easy ground to visit. It is one of those away grounds that big teams can easily come unstuck. However, this could be the ideal opportunity for City to face the Potters at home.
Mark Hughes’ side are in the midst of a defensive crisis, with centre-back Ryan Shawcross and full-back Erik Pieters both out injured, while another defensive regular Mark Wilson is also a doubt for the clash with City.
Manchester City fans will be hoping that Aguero can capitalise on any weakness in that Stoke defence and break his goal scoring duck, because at the moment they are in desperate need of inspiration from their dynamic little striker.
Can Sergio Aguero break his scoring duck against Stoke?
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