Manchester City were 26 minutes into their game with Bournemouth when something happened that has become more and more familiar.
Erling Haaland came back to receive a ball, nodded it back to a teammate, and then set off in the hope of a return. Another common theme of recent months: that ball never reached him.
This one, from Ilkay Gundogan, came closer than most though before it was cut out by a last-ditch tackle. The reason it needed a last-ditch tackle was that Haaland had three teammates making similar runs up the pitch; Jack Grealish was powering up the left, Julian Alvarez was close to the No.9 and Phil Foden was on the right.
