Merson has made the ‘disturbing’ claim that he would be better served as Holland without one

Paul Merson has suggested that Everton would have beaten Manchester City much more easily if they had had Holland’s Erling, as Paul Merson detailed the “disturbing” signs.

The city They haven’t lost a game since they faced Brighton on the last day of August. Since then, they have won seven games in all competitions.

That leaves them second in the Premier League – three points behind leaders Arsenal – and they are currently among the top five teams in the Champions League.

This is largely thanks to the superstar striker Holland. The Norwegian has scored in his last eight club games, and has a total of 15 goals in 11 games this term – 11 in the league and four in the Champions League.

He scored the opener in City’s 2-0 UCL victory over Villarreal on Tuesday and Merson has since suggested that without Holland, the Manchester outfit would be nowhere near where they currently are.

He said Sky Sports: “I don’t think they’re taking it easy. I don’t think they’re a top team right now.

“I watched the Everton game against Man City on Saturday, if you had replaced Beto – and no disrespect to Beto – for Holland, Everton would have won the game much easier than Man City.

“And that was the difference. And it’s quite disturbing.

“Players grow up, players change, Kevin De Bruyne’s gone. (Phil) Foden hasn’t hit the heights of a few years ago.

“Defensively they are not very good, the goalkeeper has just come in who I think is a good goalkeeper but we will have to wait.

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“Teams can really step up on Holland now because if they get tight, they (City) aren’t going to hit 70 yards over his head and he’s one-on-one with the goalie.

“They’re still in the title race because of Holland. But you take Holland out of the equation and then I’d struggle to think they’d finish in the top four.”

In fact, after Holland for City in the league this season, no player has more than one goal, sitting on just one.

It could also be huge for the Citizens if Holland were to get injured, but for now they are thriving in the knowledge that he is in some form of his life, with goals in his last 12 games for club and country.

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