With doubts remaining about the fitness of the injury prone Sergio Aguero, Manchester City’s other attacking assets have risen to prominence. In the Champions League this week with Aguero still absent Raheem Sterling was among the Citizens best performers. But was his fine display because of, or inspire of, the absence of his Argentinian team mate? Here I look to see how Sterling performs with and without the more prolific, albeit more fragile Aguero.

The statistics

When Aguero was off the pitch, these are Sterling stats:

When Aguero and Sterling playing together, these are Sterling stats:

When we compare these two tables, when Aguero is not on the same time on the pitch with Sterling, the England international scores a goal every 138.8 minutes, and when they are playing together, Sterling score every 373 minutes.

Without Aguero, Sterling assist once in every 277,67 minutes, but, when they play together, he needs more time: one assist on every 373 minutes.

Conclusion

Sterling’s goal threat is much higher when Aguero is out. He needs 268.7% more minutes to score when they are both on the pitch. The same conclusion applies to assist potential, with Sterling needing 134.33% more time to assist, when he and Aguero are both on the pitch.