Riyad Mahrez will have the chance to do something very few Manchester City players are ever likely to do at Norwich on Saturday.
He can match a Sergio Aguero scoring record.
Okay, this is not quite getting close to Aguero’s all-time mark for the club, where the Argentina superstar’s 260 goals are top of the rankings with a big chunk of daylight in second.
But, in midweek, Mahrez became the first City player since Aguero in 2014 to score in seven consecutive matches.
Sergio’s run went through to eight games on that occasion, so Mahrez can put himself in lofty company at Carrow Road - against opponents who suffered seven Aguero goals in eight outings.
City’s all-time record of scoring in 10 straight games - set by Billy McAdams in the 1950s - will be in Riyad’s sights if he is on target today. This is how he got there.
RB Leipzig (a)
Netting a consolation at 2-0 down in a Champions League dead rubber was an inauspicious way for Mahrez to start his brilliant streak. But it was also a demonstration of the winger’s underrated poaching instincts as he stooped to head home Oleksandr Zinchenko’s flat cross on the bounce from a tight angle at the back post.
Leeds United (h)
Of course, Mahrez scored against Leeds. Didn’t everyone? Marcelo Bielsa’s men were repeatedly carved apart in a 7-0 defeat that could have been double figures. Mahrez made it 4-0 when Junior Firpo inexplicably offered him time and space to cut back onto his trusty left foot and the Leeds full-back was punished as the resulting shot deflected off him and skidded into the far corner.
Newcastle (a)
The Zinchenko-Mahrez axis from Leipzig again got to work, with Riyad clinically volleying home another delivery from the left flank. That made it 3-0 in a 4-0 win and he even had the satisfaction of confidently wagging a finger at the linesman, who had incorrectly flagged him offside.
Leicester City (h)
City’s penalty specialist netted the first of two spot-kicks awarded against his former club, before letting Raheem Sterling rifle home the second. The latter goal made it 4-0 before all hell broke loose in an incredible second half and Pep Guardiola’s side eventually settled the argument 6-3.
Arsenal (a)
The keen-eyed among you will have noticed most of these Mahrez goals coming with City already in the ascendancy in games. By contrast, his intervention from the penalty spot against Arsenal on New Year’s Day was colossal. Forced to wait after a long VAR check and some general tomfoolery from the hosts, Riyad showed nerves of steel.
File this one alongside his seismic penalty in last season’s Champions League quarter-final at Borussia Dortmund - as on that occasion, it brought City level before they snatched a 2-1 win.
Fulham (h)
Despite AFCON disappointment with Algeria, Mahrez returned to club action and did not miss a beat. Fulham went ahead and at 2-1 were in the game at the interval. Riyad ensured the Blues pulled away into round five of the FA Cup - converting with another emphatic penalty after Joe Bryan halted Jack Grealish’s dancing feet before getting on the end of an inviting Kevin De Bruyne cross for a brace.
Brentford (h)
The only worry right now is that those interminable morons who argue online about “Pessi” and “Penaldo” will start mocking “Pahrez”. Another penalty won by Sterling, another calm approach to the ball and another kick lashed towards the top corner by Manchester City’s sure thing.
