Man City have a new trump card to unleash ahead of Napoli and Arsenal

Jeremy Doku created two goals for Manchester City in the Premier League win over Manchester United

Jeremy Doku was baptised in the aftermath of Manchester City's derby day win over Manchester United. He's well and truly a part of the Blues family.

The Belgium international produced a star showing among many as City cantered past an abject United to record a comfortable 3-0 victory.

The result could prove the catalyst for club and player ahead of a huge two games against Napoli in the Champions League on Thursday and away at Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday.

Doku has the chance to establish himself on the left of City's attack over the coming weeks and he made a positive start at the weekend. The City wideman conjured up two assists during the Manchester derby in an encouraging display.

Those were the first assists of the season for the Belgian, who has spoken about trying to improve his output this term.

He now has 16 assists for City since arriving in the summer of 2023, a tally only bettered for the Blues by the now departed Kevin De Bruyne (17), while no one has more assists from open play for City than Doku during that timeframe.

Encouraging signs then for the 23-year-old who spoke ahead of the derby about his desire to improve those statistics further. His assist numbers stack up pretty well, even if his decision making still needs refining. But he's managed only six top flight goals in a City shirt and none since the January mauling at Ipswich.

"This season, I want to work on my stats," he said earlier this month. "Football isn’t just about stats, but they matter. I want to find myself in the penalty area more often.”

Sunday was a good start to Doku 2.0, with the winger using his skill to set up the first for Phil Foden and his strength to play in Erling Haaland for the second.

With City in need of someone to take the goalscoring burden off Haaland, and with Omar Marmoush and Rayan Cherki sidelined by injury, there is an opportunity for Doku to stake his claim as one of the go-to men to fill that role.

If he can find consistency then he can provide a valuable asset for this new-look City side.

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