Man City have a new attacking threat just waiting to catch fire

Erling Haaland has been banging the goals in for Manchester City this season but there is another player whose stats suggest the floodgates will open soon.

Tijjani Reijnders kept his streak going on Thursday night. His goal for the Netherlands in their 4-0 win against Malta means the Manchester City midfielder has now had at least one shot in all 12 starts for club and country this season.

That is an excellent record for a midfielder who wears No. 4 for City and, while clearly not a holding midfielder, is more of a box-to-box player than an attacking midfielder waiting for those chances to arrive.

Something clicked with Reijnders last season. His 15 goals for AC Milan was the best goalscoring season of his career by some distance and he has continued that vein this season, although the rewards have yet to arrive.

In fact, the 27-year-old hasn't scored for the Blues since netting in the opening day of the Premier League season, when he finished superbly on his left foot in the 4-0 rout of Wolves.

He registered an assist that day and has two more for City, but there is a feeling the goals won't be far behind and the stats are continuing to back that up.

Reijnders took advantage of some dreadful defending to net in Malta, but he had four shots in total across his 90 minutes on the pitch. That is the kind of output we are starting to expect from the central midfielder.

In his short Etihad career to date, Reijnders has racked up 24 shots in 789 minutes of action, which equates to a shot every 33 minutes or so. That is an impressive output..

It's not like they are all speculative efforts, either. Of his 24 shots, 13 have been from inside the penalty area and he continues to take up some excellent attacking positions, whether paired with Phil Foden or Bernardo Silva in Pep Guardiola's midfield.

Reijnders has described himself as a box-to-box player, and speaking after that win at Molineux, Guardiola explained how the Netherlands international could also help with the defensive side of the game.

"Lovely guy and has made an impact from day one. His pace, he can help with the holding midfield," he said.

"He can make runs inside the pockets and the spaces that sometimes we allow defenders to create. At Milan he was exceptional and with the national team. We knew he is a top signing for the coming years for City."

Reijnders has certainly made an impressive start to his City career. He will be frustrated by his tally of just one goal so far, but the stats suggest that will change soon.

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