Rayan Cherki takes Man City starter-material doubts personally as double helps sink Palace | OneFootball

Well, that clears that up.

Before Manchester City’s visit to Crystal Palace, Rayan Cherki’s credentials as a starter were in the limelight. He made an impact off the bench against Bournemouth in their last game, but it only raised questions over whether he could do the same from minute one in games.

“He has the quality that we need, but it depends also on the game plan and the opponent that we play,” opined Enzo Maresca.

There was room in the manager’s plan against Palace for Cherki to come into the starting lineup, and it was a decision that turned out to be justified.

It was a double assist by Cherki on Sunday that helped turn City’s game against Bournemouth around. This time, he scored two for himself at Selhurst Park.

And both goals highlighted the magic that Cherki is capable of. First, his nifty dribble in the Palace box led to a chance to finish, which he made no mistake with at the end of a move where he was always one step ahead of his opponents.

His second goal was more direct, and well timed for City after their lead had just been halved when Yeremy Pino’s free kick hit the bar and deflected in off Gianluigi Donnarumma’s back.

Cherki responded by guiding the ball to a shooting angle and launching a powerful effort beyond the reach of Dean Henderson.

From that point on, the game was wrapped up. There was half an hour to play still, but Cherki’s brace within the space of five minutes had made sure of City’s controlling position, even despite Palace’s quiet threat of a comeback in between.

Sure enough, Cherki can start games for City and make an impact.

Critics will point to the opposition and argue Cherki still needs to have that kind of sway in bigger games, and that’s not unreasonable, even if it would be overlooking the fact that, for a time at least, Palace did make a tie of it.

But the way City’s number 10 blasted in the goal that made it 3-1 was emblematic of how much he is backing himself to answer his doubters.

This is a man who was being mentioned as an outside contender for signing of the season last term, remember, if it wasn’t so obviously Granit Xhaka.

Cherki gets goals. He gets assists. He creates chances. He’s a maverick who can dazzle with the ball at his feet. He will frustrate sometimes, but he will fascinate as well.

What will be interesting from here is not just whether Cherki obtains a more regular starting berth, but what the consequences will be for Phil Foden.

The most stylistically similar player in the City squad to Cherki, Foden once again had to make do with a place on the right wing rather than in attacking midfield.

He was wasteful in front of goal in the first half, but bounced back in the second half to mimic Cherki last week with a double assist of his own, including the set-up for Cherki’s first.

They can get a tune out of each other, but there will be times when only one of them can fit into Maresca’s lineup. Right now, it’s Cherki on the ascent.

The next step could be to generate more of a link-up with Erling Haaland, City’s other brace scorer at Selhurst Park but a player who was otherwise involved minimally in terms of touches.

Haaland having such little involvement doesn’t normally bother City too much. He can score out of virtually nothing. But when they have creators as talented as Cherki and Foden in their side, surely there must be another level for them to unlock.

This was the most convincing City have looked so far under Maresca, though – not that it would have taken much after their Community Shield drubbing by Arsenal and toils and troubles before the Bournemouth comeback.

And Cherki was chief among the architects of their success.