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Stat Proves Manchester City Are Better Off Without Ilkay Gundogan

Stat Proves Manchester City Are Better Off Without Ilkay Gundogan

The German midfielder missed a penalty on Sunday as City lost to Spurs to put another dent in a poor season for Pep Guardiola's side.

Ryan Sidle

Ryan Sidle

Manchester City are better off without Ilkay Gundogan with the stats proving that Pep Guardiola's side pick up far more points without the midfielder in the team.

Gundogan had the chance to put City ahead in the game when Serge Aurier's challenge on Sergio Aguero was eventually given as a penalty thanks to VAR in the 40th minute.

The German's effort was saved by Hugo Lloris and the Premier League champions ended up losing 2-0. Whilst Gundogan was far from the only player to blame one stat suggests he should be dropped.

As per the Times, City have a 53% win rate in the 15 games he's started this season with an average score of 2.0-1.4. In 10 games he hasn't started the side have an 80% win rate at 3.5-0.8.

Gundogan's penalty is saved by Lloris. Image: PA Images
Gundogan's penalty is saved by Lloris. Image: PA Images

That means a near 30% in win rate whilst scoring 1.5 goals more per game and conceding 0.6 goals a game less, and they'd likely be a lot closer to Liverpool with that record throughout the season.

Instead the loss to Spurs kept them an incredible 22 points behind league leaders Liverpool with 13 games of the season to go.

Indeed dropping three points away to Jose Mourinho's side means that City could be giving the Reds a guard of honour when they visit the Etihad on April 4th.

City were the better team for much of the game against Spurs but failed to turn their dominance into points, and that has been the case in most of the games they've dropped points in this season.

The visitors recorded 18 shots to Spurs three and had 68% of the possession but the game turned on its head once Oleksandr Zinchenko was sent off.

He picked up a first yellow card for his part in the scuffle following Gundogan's missed penalty and picked up a second booking in the 60th minute for stopping a Spurs counter.

Guardiola discusses a referee decision with the fourth official. Image: PA Images
Guardiola discusses a referee decision with the fourth official. Image: PA Images

Three minutes later Steven Bergwijn scored on his debut and Son Heung-min made it 2-0 just eight minutes later to earn the points that took Spurs into fifth.

Things could have been even worse for City as Raheem Sterling was lucky not to get a red card in the first half.

Featured Image Credit:

Topics:Β Manchester City, Phil Foden, Spurs, Football News, Jose Mourinho, Sergio Aguero, Pep Guardiola, Ilkay Gundogan, Premier League, Son Heung-Min, VAR

Ryan is a writer for SPORTbible. He covers all sport from football, formula one, cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics, mma and wrestling. He obviously hates YOUR football team and has no interest in synchronised swimming.

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@Sidler28