Fearless Rayan Cherki offers Manchester City a point of difference in title hunt | Will Unwin

In a season where the football on offer would struggle to entertain paint testers, Rayan Cherki has offered a point of difference. A playground footballer who gives off the impression of actually enjoying the game, while the majority of professionals are enduring the methodical nature of desperately practising set pieces. Cherki possesses an armoury of trickery and a desire to use it at every opportunity, even in a stuttering win at Burnley.

A fee of £30.5m was paid for the France international last summer, luring him from Lyon. While Florian Wirtz, a player who cost almost four times as much, struggles to adapt at Liverpool, Cherki’s relaxed attitude has made it a seamless transition from Ligue 1 to Premier League. There is a fearlessness to his play, knowing that if he does lose the ball then it will soon be back at his feet.

Phil Foden is cemented in the role of second choice No 10 thanks to Cherki’s form. He is making the position his own and Pep Guardiola knows his preferred front four contains the Frenchman with Erling Haaland in front of him and Antoine Semenyo and Jérémy Doku either side. This is the regular quartet for the new Premier League leaders because their head coach knows the importance of strengthening the bond between his most effective attackers and that it can only make them more potent.

Burnley have been bamboozled by far less qualified magicians this season, hence the confirmation of their relegation in a 13th straight home game without a victory. The hosts sat very deep, with Cherki often in charge of engineering the gaps on a nervy night for City. He roamed in between the backline and midfield, drifting to the right where he most likes to collect possession before driving towards the box.

Without the safety net of Rodri, the almost irreplaceable Bernardo Silva and Nico O’Reilly were the duo giving Cherki licence. As a No 10, having confidence in those behind you is imperative, allowing greater freedom to take risks because they are the barrier when an opponent counters. Guardiola has pushed Cherki to provide more defensively, rather than being a completely selfish attacker and he is embracing the added responsibility to get into shape as soon as possible when City are out of possession.

Cherki’s superb individual goal against Arsenal at the weekend showed his confidence levels and he would have added another to his tally had it not been for a stunning Martin Dubravka save early on. The Frenchman was inside the box, finding the space vacated by Haaland, who attracts too much attention for his own good, opening up chances for others. In a congested area, Cherki is smart enough to know where to be because others are not.