Mahrez repaying faith shown by Manchester City boss Guardiola

In January 2018, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola was keen on landing another wide forward. Alexis Sanchez was a top target for the champions elect, who then decided against the Chilean because of his proposed fee. At the time, Sanchez was entering the final months of his Arsenal contract and the decision to decide against the former Barcelona forward was, in hindsight, the correct one. 

Rather, Guardiola and City turned their attention to Leicester's Riyad Mahrez. The Algerian's move to the Etihad Stadium, though, failed to come to fruition in the winter window as both City and Leicester failed to agree a fee for the winger. It could have been so different for the player too. 12 months after Leicester's 5000/1 title triumph, Mahrez signalled his intention to leave the King Power Stadium. A taste of Champions League football left the attacker wanting more. 

Yet, while Roma were interested, no side came close to matching Leicester's valuation of one of their prized assets in 2017. He spent the summer deadline day at an airport waiting for a call that he should jump on a plane to seal a move away from the Foxes. That call never came. 

In the season following Leicester's 2016 title success, Mahrez cut a disillusioned figure in the Midlands. He saved his best performances for the Champions League, where he landed a WhoScored rating of 7.41, and put in sub-par displays in the Premier League, returning a WhoScored rating of 6.91. Having returned a WhoScored rating of 7.84 as Leicester pipped the likes of Arsenal and Tottenham to top spot, a drop of 0.93 was the biggest of its kind across the two Premier League seasons. 

In the season prior to his big money move to City, Mahrez wasn't at his blistering best, which football fans bore witness to in the 2015/16 campaign, but he still did enough to warrant a WhoScored rating of 7.28 as he was one of five players to register double figures for both goals (12) and assists (10). Mahrez keeps going through these peaks and troughs in terms of WhoScored rating, however. 

Of course, his debut season with City was always going to be a testing one. With competition rife for starting spots, Mahrez made just 14 league starts, yet even so; three man of the match accolades was commendable. Having played a vital role in Algeria's AFCON success this summer, Guardiola may have resisted the temptation to throw Mahrez into action too quickly and rather gradually ease him back into the first team. 

However, Leroy Sane's severe knee injury in the Community Shield forced the Spaniard's hand. Guardiola may be able to call upon Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva to operate out wide, yet the former is wasted on the right and the latter is better served scuttling between the lines. Silva may offer directness from the wing, but Mahrez's stronger end product - 3.9 key passes per 90 is second only to teammate Kevin De Bruyne (4.9) in the Premeir League this season - renders the Algeria international a stronger candidate for a starting spot when City seek to tear teams apart. 

In that regard, Mahrez isn't disappointing. He is having a direct hand in a goal every 91.6 minutes in the Premier League this season, one of the better returns in the league, and it's helped return a WhoScored rating of 7.74, that the third best in England's top tier, which is all the more impressive given three of his eight top-flight appearances have come from the bench. From starts alone, the 28-year-old's WhoScored rating is a superb 8.66, that the best in the Premier League of those to make more than one start. 

Much of that has been down to a stronger output while in possession. In eight Premier League appearances this season, he has already created a total of 20 goalscoring chances. In 27 top-flight outings last season, he made 24 key passes. His pass success rate, too, is up from 84.7% to 89.1%. Whether a matter of confidence or a tinkering with the system to maximise a statistically calculated WhoScored strength of 'key passes', either way it's working for Mahrez. 

While we're still only eight games into the season, Mahrez's early season form is promising as City seek a third successive Premier League title. What is key now is that he help City return to winning ways at Crystal Palace on Saturday in the club's bid to get their title pursuit back on track. A 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Wolves prior to the international break was far from ideal for City, but Guardiola can take solace from Mahrez's excellent early season form to help put another three points on the board at Selhurst Park and turn up the heat on league leaders Liverpool.