Erling Haaland merits more at Man City in Premier League battle - he could easily be player of the year

Erling Haaland has 29 goal contributions in the Premier League but has again seen his contributions weirdly dismissed

Pep Guardiola was warmer about Erling Haaland than usual after the 2-1 win over Newcastle at the weekend. An incredible effort all over the pitch from Haaland, winning four more duels than he ever has in a Premier League game, underpinned another important victory for City that keeps the Blues close to Arsenal at the top of the table with 11 games to go.

Guardiola holds Haaland to incredibly high standards because that is what the No.9 does himself, but there can also be little to say about his goalscoring. He can do things that Guardiola and anybody else struggles to describe, making the hardest thing on a football pitch look so simple.

That often sees Haaland's talent reduced, somehow seen as less of a footballer because apart from scoring goals in a way that nobody else can what else does he offer to City. The Peoples' Front of Judaea want a word when those goals help a team to win games and trophies.

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It isn't just goals that the 25-year-old is contributing though. His workrate is back, having slumped in the winter months when he was low on energy, and there was also a delightful chip into the box against Newcastle that Nico O'Reilly headed home.

That was another significant contribution following on from heading on for Bernardo Silva to equalise at Anfield and a seventh assist for the season in the Premier League - only Bruno Fernandes has more. Five clear in the goal charts, Haaland has 29 goal contributions this season and one per game until the end of the campaign will see him reach 40.

That is incredible, an achievement only the best ever players are able to hit. So why does it feel like Haaland is anything but a shoo-in to be recognised as the best in the league for this season? Declan Rice has been immense for Arsenal and will be a deserving winner if he can guide them to their first title under Mikel Arteta, but he is surely the only player who could be argued to have had as big an impact.

Not helped by the fact that Jamie Carragher carries such a platform as a pundit and just doesn't seem to rate Haaland - he was weirdly dismissive of the striker's movement for the assist at Anfield - the Norwegian's goals are taken for granted and the other parts of his game are played down. Ask Dan Burn and Eddie Howe if they agree because Haaland was a handful and too much for Newcastle at the weekend.

Carragher recently said that Haaland is not a player who excels in the biggest games, struggling to get the better of quality opponents. City's run-in looks like the perfect opportunity for the striker to prove people wrong yet again and show why he deserves more credit in the league.

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