Jeremy Doku has emerged as Manchester City's most dangerous attacking weapon, with his recent performances drawing praise from manager Pep Guardiola and leaving defenders in his wake. The Belgian winger scored another spectacular goal in City's victory over Brentford, curling a shot into the top corner from distance, a strike that has become his trademark this season.
Doku's transformation from a promising talent to a decisive match-winner has been remarkable. Guardiola noted the change in the 23-year-old's mentality, saying, 'His soul now is so calm. You need to make actions like that to win games. It's not enough to make crosses for others. If you want to become a better player, you have to win games for yourself. He's made an incredible step up in the sense of thinking, "I'm Jeremy Doku, I'm going to win games" and the greatest players always have that mentality.'
Brentford's young right-back Michael Kayode, who has impressed this season with his defensive abilities, found himself outmatched by Doku's relentless dribbling and pace. Despite Kayode's best efforts, Doku consistently created opportunities, fashioning two presentable chances for Erling Haaland before scoring himself.
Doku acknowledges that opponents often try to double-team him, but he remains confident in his ability to beat defenders. 'I think you can over-cover him,' said pundit Keith Andrews. 'You can put two players on him but with the nature of City, the level of talent that they have, if you do that there's always going to be room for someone else to exploit that.'
The winger has been working on improving his end product, particularly his finishing. Doku admitted that he wants to score more tap-ins, like those Raheem Sterling used to convert under Guardiola. 'When I look at my goals, all the goals this season, I don't see one tap-in,' Doku said. 'And when I look at Sterling, all the tap-ins that he scored, at least five, six, seven a season. When I look at my goals, it's all top goals, don't get me wrong, but I want to score also those goals where I just tap-in, second post, run in and tap-in, and it just adds more goals to my account. That's really the thing that I need to work on.'
If Doku can add those simple goals to his repertoire, his tally of eight for City this season could easily double. For now, he remains City's go-to man as they continue to chase Arsenal in the title race, with his electrifying form showing no signs of slowing down.
