Guardiola fancies Sterling to score 30 goals for Manchester City this season
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola believes Raheem Sterling has the credentials to reach the 30-goal mark for the Citizens this term. The England international was the standout performer for the Citizens last season with 25 goals across all competitions and Guardiola feels the attacker has the ability to make an improvement during the ongoing campaign.
However, he added that he won’t judge the performances of the former Liverpool graduate based on the goals scored during the course of the campaign, he continued: “But I don’t know. I never spoke with Sergio Aguero, or Gabriel Jesus, or Raheem, with any of the people up front, about what are their dreams and targets, so I don’t know, honestly.So, hopefully, he can score goals. I think goals are a consequence of the way we play – their mood, how the team’s playing, no injuries. I wouldn’t judge him if he scored 30 goals, 35 or 20.”
Sterling scored a hat-trick during the 5-0 triumph over West Ham United in the curtain-raiser before finding the net against Tottenham Hotspur in a 2-2 draw. As a result, he finds himself tied with Norwich City’s Teemu Pukki as the joint-leading Premier League goalscorer and that should offer him plenty of confidence going forward in the season.
Manchester City are currently third on the table with four points from the opening two league games but they were unfortunate not to come up with a win over Tottenham Hotspur. The reigning champions were denied the winning goal against the north London side after a hand ball from Aymeric Laporte was spotted in the lead-up to Gabriel Jesus’ strike through the VAR.
