Look at the impact the loss of Luis Suarez has had on Liverpool’s performances this season.
As the Uruguayan drove Liverpool to the brink of the title in 2013/14, they won 68 per cent of the time and scored 2.65 goals a game.
This season, in a small sample size, they have scored 1.4 goals a game and won 42 per cent of matches. The club look more like contenders for a Champions League spot than the title – that is what losing one of the best players in the world will do to a club.
Sergio Aguero is Manchester City’s Suarez and his fitness will be integral to this season’s title race.
Last season, Aguero played only 23 of 38 league games for City because of injury and three of those from the bench. He scored 17 times in those matches, which would have put him on course for 28 goals had he played every game. Suarez ended with 31.
City still won 67 per cent of their games without him (73 with Aguero), but his three-month spell on the sidelines without a league game between January and April, coincided with City losing at home to Chelsea in the league and Barcelona in the Champions League – they failed to score and slipped behind in the title race.
Aguero gives City something special and there are few players like him in the Premier League.
Vincent Kompany can be replaced. The team showed they can win without Yaya Toure, too. But there is no other player in City’s squad who has what Aguero offers.
What makes him so special is his ability with the ball at his feet, he can beat several men in one move to create space, meaning the defence is constantly on edge.
Combine that with his pace, ability to break the offside trap and – as he showed yesterday – his talent from long distance and it is clear he is City’s X-factor.
Last season they did an incredible job to win the title without him, with Yaya Toure and Edin Dzeko in particular stepping up. But with Chelsea motoring, it would be tough for City to win a second time if he misses extended time. Manuel Pellegrini should wrap him in cotton wool.
twoods@thenational.ae
