Antoine Semenyo couldn’t ask for a better start to his Manchester City career. Whether he can make the difference in the Premier League race remains to be seen, but so far, so good. His goal helped break a deadlock and secure a 2-0 victory in the first leg of the EFL Cup semifinals away at St. James’ Park. During the entire season, City’s attack has been calling out for who would be the second player to look to in the attack after Erling Haaland, and while it’s early in his City career, being able to get his first and second goal out of the way will bode well for upcoming Premier League and Champions League games.
Rayan Cherki was able to add an insurance goal late, which will ensure that City have a two-goal advantage for the second leg, which will take place on Feb. 4 at the Etihad Stadium live on Paramount+.
It’s easy to look past Semenyo getting a goal in a match where City scored 10 at the weekend in the FA Cup, but in an away trip to face Newcastle, opportunities were hard to come by, and when City needed him most, Semenyo popped into space to deliver an all-important goal. Newcastle United limited Haaland’s impact well, so someone had to step up, and while coming into the season, it would’ve been expected for that to be Phil Foden, it was the new man who made the impact.
Semenyo’s immediate impact shouldn’t come as a surprise as he didn’t score 10 Premier League goals with Bournemouth by accident, but his creativity also will bring more to City, too. A master of long throws, Semenyo also has three assists this season and will be able to add more playing with such a talented City squad. The Manchester derby looms this weekend with Manchester United just announcing Michael Carrick as their interim manager for the remainder of the season, and if Semenyo can score in a third consecutive match, he’ll go a long way to endear himself to his new fans.
City needed a player who could slot seamlessly into the attack alongside the creativity of Jeremy Doku, and they may have done just that. Defenders will be punished for devoting too much attention to Haaland, with a player like Semenyo roaming the wings will make things happen. Only two players, Igor Thiago and Haaland, have scored more goals than Semenyo’s 10 in the Premier League this season as his hit rate from the wing has been nothing short of impressive in 20 matches played. The opposition will get tougher now playing in the Champions League, but his supporting cast will also improve with the switch to Manchester.
Adding wingers hasn’t gone well recently for Pep Guardiola with players like Savinho and Omar Marmoush struggling to settle at the Etihad, but the difference in Semenyo is that he’s already a Premier League-proven attacker, so he only needs to adjust to the Guardiola way of life and not that and English soccer. Given this start, he’s adjusting well to City, and who knows, the Premier League may feel like it’s Arsenal’s to lose, but the gap is only six points. If City can kick on and make things happen between now and the end of the season, they’ll have every chance to reclaim the Premier League title, but any success will need Semenyo to keep his scoring touch going.
