Man City vs Aston Villa: Why Pep Guardiola should drop Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne

Manchester City’s star playmaker came on for his first Premier League appearance in five months with his team 2-1 down to Newcastle United at a raucous St James’ Park.

A sublime goal and a signature assist later, he’d crafted a dramatic 3-2 win for the reigning champions in a bravura performance to strike fear into the rest of England’s top flight.

All that was missing was WWE commentator Jim Ross howling: “Bah gawd! That's Kevin De Bruyne’s music?!?!”

That cinematic reintroduction for De Bruyne was the start of a purple patch on his return from hamstring surgery. He has racked up 11 assists across all competitions in 2024. Among Premier League players across the whole of this season, only Pascal Gross (13), Bukayo Saka and Mohamed Salah (both 12) have more.

A couple of weeks after he took down Newcastle, De Bruyne made his second Premier League start of the season against Burnley, a game where Pep Guardiola’s team cantered to a 3-1 victory and Erling Haaland returned from almost two months on the sidelines with a foot injury.

 Newcastle vs Man City final score, highlights and result as De Bruyne inspires last-gasp win for champions

City had hung in a three-way title battle with Liverpool and Arsenal and now had their two destroyers back in harness. On February 10, De Bruyne played a textbook through ball for Haaland to score his second of the game and seal a battling 2-0 victory over Everton. On February 27, they went to town on Luton Town in the fifth round of the FA Cup. Haaland rattled home an astonishing five goals, the first four of which were assisted by De Bruyne.

With big games on the horizon, plenty of observers felt City were primed for one of their imposing and destructive kicks for the finish line. It hasn’t