Pep Guardiola will never get sick of talking about Erling Haaland, but he insists comparisons to Lionel Messi are unwelcome.
The Manchester City boss has promised striker Haaland a holiday during the World Cup, because Norway have not qualified, and he may need a break in any case after a breathless start to his career in England.
Haaland has a staggering 14 goals from eight Premier League games already, and Mohamed Salah's record of 32 goals in a 38-game season already looks under serious threat. Kevin De Bruyne was City's top league scorer last season with 15.
Former Borussia Dortmund striker Haaland has stayed healthy and the goals have flowed, just as City's title rivals feared they would.
At this rate, Haaland could finish the season with the sort of haul Messi often brought in for Barcelona during his prime years, regularly scoring more than 50 across all competitions.
Guardiola has been fortunate to coach them both, and he was asked whether the attention foisted on Haaland was the most he has known since having Messi under his wing at Barcelona.
"The people who compare Erling with Leo, I think we don't help," Guardiola said. "How many 'new Messis' appeared in the world of football since I started? Ten, 15?
"Always you fail. Erling has to do his own career, his own job. He's a different player."
Guardiola pointed to the number of times he is asked about Haaland. He also suggested that within other teams, such focus on a big-time player might cause unrest.
"For me, it's OK," Guardiola said. "We're fortunate that the guys who are here accept it perfectly. At other clubs, other people, would not like it.
"Here they are delighted. We have Kevin [De Bruyne] who is an exceptional person and is happy to have him, because both know they can be better playing alongside [each other].
"The same for all of them. We don't have incredible players who say, 'Why do they always talk about just him?'.
"This is why it's a joy to train this type of players."
Guardiola said he would rather Haaland was playing at the World Cup.
"But he's young, and he'll have an opportunity in four years," added the City boss. "Fans want to see the best players possible and Erling is one of them."
With three hat-tricks in his last three Premier League home games, capped by last week's treble against Manchester United, Haaland is on a special streak.
Southampton visit the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, and while they held City to home and away draws last season, that was before Haaland arrived.
City are the only unbeaten team in the Premier League, following Tottenham's defeat to Arsenal last week, and have won their last eight home games in the competition, scoring three or more goals each time.
Aston Villa were the last team to have a longer run of top-flight home wins while scoring three-plus goals in each game, putting a run of 13 together between December 1930 and September 1931.
Perhaps City will threaten that mark, if Haaland stays fit and in form. Guardiola is bewitched by his striker's movement and how he reads play.
"It's just the fact there's a deflection, and he's there. Why does the ball finish where he is?" said the Spaniard.
"What can I teach? It's complete instincts, it's natural. He did it in Norway, in Austria, in Germany, and he's doing it here."
And yet Guardiola still feels Haaland can improve.
"Every player knows, 'I can do better'," said Guardiola. "In our life we have a chance to always improve until we die, and he's not an exception."
Guardiola is not blind to the potential for Haaland to break records this season.
"It would be good," Guardiola said. "If he continues this rhythm, then you don't have to be a clever person to realise it, but who knows.
"After the Community Shield some people had a lot of doubts; now they have a lot of certainties.
"At the end of the season we'll see, okay, he's scored how many goals, how many chances have we had to win the titles?"
'Please, doubt us' – Dias dares Man City's critics
Ruben Dias has dared Manchester City's critics to "doubt us" after the Premier League champions' four-game losing streak.
Pep Guardiola lost four straight matches in all competitions for the first time in his managerial career as City capitulated in a 2-1 loss to Brighton on Saturday.
That loss came on the back of a 4-1 defeat to Sporting CP – coached by new Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim – in the Champions League, as well as a reverse to Bournemouth in the Premier League and an EFL Cup exit at the hands of Tottenham.
City are five points behind league leaders Liverpool, but Dias shrugged off the doubters.
"I would say, please doubt us, doubt us, feel welcome to do so," the centre-back told reporters.
"When we did the treble, we even called it the dark January. We had a tough period. But it is what it is.
"What matters is how you bounce back from these moments. That's why our team has won so much because in moments of difficulty, the characters come up and we stay together.
"We don't find people to kill, we find people to bring into the cause and fight together.
"That's what we need to do once again. Until it's done, it's not done."
City's losing run combined with Liverpool's excellent form has seen a swing in the Opta supercomputer's predictions.
The model now has Liverpool as the favourites, with a 60.3% chance of winning the title.
Premier League MD11: Lucky winners and unlucky losers
The final international break of 2024 is here, and we can safely say the Premier League is starting to take shape.
Opta's supercomputer now has Liverpool, who are five points clear at the top following their win over Aston Villa on Saturday, as the favourites to go on and win the title.
Manchester City lost a fourth straight game in all competitions as they went down 2-1 at Brighton, while Chelsea and Arsenal are third and fourth respectively after sharing the points.
When assessing the underlying metrics, it looks like Sunday's draw at Stamford Bridge was a fair result, but that was not the case across the board this weekend.
Here, we pick out the lucky winners and unlucky losers from matchday 11.
Lucky winners: Manchester United
Manchester United are now under new management, with Ruben Amorim officially starting as head coach on Monday. But interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy ensured he went out with a high as the Red Devils beat Leicester City 3-0 on Sunday.
However, it is fair to say United were rather fortunate to net three times at Old Trafford, with the data suggesting they did not even create chances worthy of one goal, never mind three.
United's expected goals (xG) was 0.69, the third-lowest total in the league this weekend and behind Leicester's 0.77.
Bruno Fernandes scored one and set up another on his 250th appearance for the club, either side of Victor Kristiansen's own goal, but from 13 shots, United, who had only 17 touches in Leicester's box, really did not create much in the way of quality opportunities.
Indeed, their attacking quality instead told, with Fernandes and Alejandro Garnacho finishing well. At the other end, Leicester failed to make their moments count, despite hitting the target with five of their six shots.
Spare a thought for Erik ten Hag, given when he was in charge, United's attack was underperforming. Now Amorim just needs to pick up where Van Nistelrooy left off...
Unlucky losers: Manchester City
Man City are suddenly the crisis club, having lost four straight games for the first time since August 2006. Pep Guardiola, meanwhile, has lost four games in a row in all competitions for the very first time in his managerial career.
Erling Haaland also lost a Premier League match in which he scored a goal for the very first time, having put City ahead before Joao Pedro and Matt O'Riley clinched the points for Brighton.
Brighton finished with 2.29 xG, so they did deserve to score at least twice. However, City can still consider themselves unfortunate, given their 2.22 xG was the third-highest of any team across the weekend.
Their post-shot expected goals on target (xGoT) also rose to 2.98, showing that Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen was on fine form.
City also created five big chances, missing four of them, and hit the woodwork once. That being said, they conceded eight big chances, with Brighton letting them off for six of those, so it was not a good day at the office for Guardiola.
Unlucky losers: Bournemouth
If Man City were unfortunate, then the team to have created the highest xG (2.61) this past weekend – Bournemouth – can consider themselves hard done by.
Andoni Iraola claimed his team were worthy of the three points against Brentford, despite the Cherries losing 3-2, and the underlying metrics suggest the Spaniard was fair in his assessment.
Only Tottenham (35 in their loss against Ipswich Town) had more touches in the opponent's box than Bournemouth's 34 at the Gtech Community Stadium, but Iraola's side were made to pay for some dismal finishing.
Their xGoT dropped to 1.68, while Brentford's rose from 1.48 xG to 1.84 xGoT – essentially, the level of finishing from Brentford's players increased the likelihood they would score, while Bournemouth's finishing was below what would have been anticipated based on the quality of chances they had. That is further backed up by the fact the Cherries only got three of their 15 attempts on target.
Inter Miami 2-3 Atlanta United: Slisz completes comeback to upset favourites
Atlanta United stunned MLS Cup favourites Inter Miami, coming from behind to win 3-2 and setting up another trip to Florida to face Orlando City in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Bartosz Slisz scored the all-important winner to ensure Atlanta overturned the deficit in the series, having lost their first trip to Chase Stadium.
The hosts started brightly, with Matias Rojas sharply turning in the rebound of Lionel Messi's saved shot moments after Jamal Thiare was denied by the post.
However, the Senegalese striker would soon turn things around with two goals in two minutes – he powered his first shot past Drake Callender after some chaos in the box and was left with a simple tap-in from close range for his second.
Diego Gomez was denied an equaliser by VAR shortly after, having drifted offside before receiving Luis Suarez's pass, while Brad Guzen made a string of fine saves to keep Atlanta's lead intact.
He could not keep them out forever though, with Messi peeling away at the back post to nod in an equaliser in the 65th minute.
It was Slisz who would have the last say though, leaping high to power a header past Callender against the run of play, with Atlanta causing the biggest upset of the playoffs so far.
Data Debrief: One for the books
Miami were classed as the favourites to win the MLS Cup this year, but their defeat to Atlanta maybe should not be too big of a surprise, with this their third loss against them this season.
The Five Stripes ended a six-match winless run on the road in the play-offs (D1 L5), but have still conceded multiple goals in each of their last six such games.
Slisz is not known for his goalscoring, but he stepped up at the right time for Atlanta - it was just his second goal in MLS this season, and his first since May 18.
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