Don’t trust the process: why Guardiola may unleash Haaland against Arsenal

The best moments for Haaland at City have been the simplest: the chaos caused by his speed and presence when he plays right at the edge of the attack, the need to simply pass the ball repeatedly into the right space.

BACK TO BASICS: Erling Haaland celebrates with Pep Guardiola. Pic: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images

Waking from a dream, exhausted by his studies, struggling, for now, to channel the force, Pep Guardiola looks up through the misty combat cave and sees his arch adversary Mikel Arteta striding towards him, light sabre already unsheathed and cleaving the air.

Pep leaps up in fear, attacks, and strikes down his nemesis. Stepping forward tenderly, he stoops to see the human face of his fallen foe. But peering through the hole in that shiny black plastic Lego hairpiece he sees instead: the face of Pep Guardiola.