Manchester City Concentrates On Their Own Game Amid Title Race With Arsenal, Says Doku

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Jeremy Doku acknowledges the challenge teams face in keeping up with Manchester City when they are performing at their best. He emphasised that Pep Guardiola's squad is not preoccupied with Arsenal's current form. On Sunday, City celebrated a 3-0 victory over Liverpool, marking Guardiola's 1,000th game as a manager. Doku played a pivotal role, securing an early penalty and scoring a remarkable goal in the second half.

City's triumph moved them into second place, trailing Arsenal by four points. Arsenal had drawn 2-2 with Sunderland on Saturday. According to Opta's supercomputer, Arsenal has a 63.6% chance of winning the title, while City's probability stands at 22.9%. Despite these odds, Doku stated that City is focused solely on their own performances rather than worrying about their title rivals.

"We're just looking at ourselves," Doku mentioned to ESPN. "We have been building and we know that we can still improve. The performance that we delivered, we're very happy [with], but we still have to improve every game." He stressed that City's success depends on their own play rather than what other teams are doing.

Doku has been instrumental for City this season, leading the team in several key areas during the Liverpool match. He topped the charts for shots (three), shots on target (three), touches in the opposition box (11), chances created (three), successful dribbles (seven), and duels won (11). Additionally, he has provided three assists in the Premier League this season, which is a team-high.

The 23-year-old Belgian has already contributed to nine goals this season across all competitions, with five goals and four assists. In his previous two seasons at City, he recorded 15 goal involvements each time. This season, Doku is averaging 0.36 goals and 0.26 expected goals per 90 minutes, impressive figures throughout his City career.

Doku explained his approach to evaluating his performance: "I just work to have more of that but I'm not a player that's going to look after a game and say 'you didn't score, you didn't assist, you had a bad game'. I'm not that type of player." For him, a poor performance is defined by lack of ball interaction or effectiveness.

He elaborated further: "If I didn't score today, would I have said this is a bad game? No, I would have said this is a good game. That's how I am and how I'm going to be." His focus remains on contributing effectively during matches rather than solely on scoring or assisting.

As Manchester City continues its campaign under Guardiola's guidance, Doku's contributions are proving vital. The team's focus remains inward as they strive for improvement with each match they play.