Sergio Agüero stole the show in the Premier League this weekend, scoring all four goals in Manchester City’s 4–1 romp over Tottenham at the Etihad. Agüero’s haul admittedly was aided by two converted penalties, but in his defense, one of those he earned himself on what would have otherwise been a near-certain goal from the run of play.

More interesting than merely an ultra-talented player grabbing four goals, though, were City’s tactics. Instead of Manuel Pellegrini’s tried and true 4–4–2/4–2–2–2, the Sky Blues came out in a 4–2–3–1 setup, with Agüero as lone frontman. We’ve only seen this deployment one other time in this season, in City’s 2–2 draw away to Arsenal.

After such a convincing performance on Saturday—along with the match at the Emirates that City really should have won—it seems rather likely that Pellegrini will continue with the 4–2–3–1, at least to some degree. We’re dealing with a very small sample size here, but the early returns suggest that it’s a tactic that may serve to unleash a dimension of Agüero (and perhaps even Manchester City) we’ve never seen before.

Before we go any further, it’s worth stating that since his move to Atlético Madrid as a teenager, Agüero has never had any sort of extended run as a lone striker. At Atlético, he played alongside a peak Diego Forlán, while at City he’s found himself next to the likes of Carlos Tevez, Mario Balotelli, Edin Džeko, Stevan Jovetić, and Álvaro Negredo. Meanwhile, he’s never gotten a game as a lone forward for Argentina either, as at least one of Tevez, Gonzalo Higuaín, or Lionel Messi has always been alongside him.

Given the quality of striking teammates he’s had, as well as his lack of classic lone striker height, it’s no surprise that Agüero has rarely been utilized alone up top. But his display against Spurs—along with his late goals against Newcastle and Aston Villa as a lone striker, plus his goal against Arsenal—suggests that may have been his ideal deployment all along. Out of Agüero’s nine goals this season, seven have come when he’s been the only striker on the field. Incredibly, that now gives him a completely absurd seven goals in just 229 minutes as a lone striker, a rate of one goal per 32.7 minutes, which is a near hat-trick per 90 minutes. This, compared to his two goals in 299 minutes with another striker on the field, for a rate of one goal per 149.5 minutes. Of course, that lone striker rate is completely unsustainable, but the underlying stats are promising enough to suggest that his extreme success as a lone striker could very well continue.

Agueor beat Hugo Lloris twice from the penalty spot (and had a third PK saved) on his way to a four-goal day. (AP)

Along with the enormous goal haul on Saturday, Agüero also delivered 11 total shots and eight shots on target, which is twice as many as any forward has managed in a single Premier League game all season. Away at Arsenal, he fired three shots on target in just 66 minutes. Given his skill set as well as his supporting cast, it’s not particularly hard to see how Agüero manages such prolific shot totals when alone up top. He is absolutely world-class when it comes to creating a yard of space and getting his shot away in tight areas (see the first goal vs. Spurs), and as the clear number-one shooting option in the City lineup, he has the license to shoot almost at will when played as a lone striker. Further, he gets more touches in dangerous positions, as he has an exclusive claim on the field’s most threatening areas.

Encouragingly for City, they have the pieces to continue teeing up Agüero at a huge rate, provided they play him as a lone striker. Between David Silva, Samir Nasri, Jesus Navas, and James Milner (!), City boasts four of the Premier League’s top 12 chance creators. The 4–2–3–1 enables City to play three of those four behind Agüero, feeding the lethal Argentine opportunity after opportunity.

Meanwhile, Pellegrini’s standard two-striker set—which normally pairs Agüero with Edin Džeko—takes one of those creative midfielders off the field. Cripplingly for Agüero’s prospects in the 4–4–2, Džeko is nowhere near the passer that any of those four midfielders are. While a fine goal scorer, Džeko has abysmal chance-creation numbers, delivering a 115.1 minutes per chance created rate a season ago and an improved but still poor 73.7 rate this year.

There certainly is some value in having another goal scorer on the field, but Džeko is no Agüero in front of net, and thus it may make most sense to set up the team to feed Agüero as much as possible. If City were to use Agüero almost exclusively as a lone striker, it seems highly likely that Agüero’s increased goal total plus added contributions from City’s midfielders and even defenders would be perfectly capable of chipping in the needed goals to replace Džeko’s (or Jovetić’s) expected haul.

As the above stat shows, there’s quite literally no more efficient goal scorer in Premier League history than Agüero. It also raises a fascinating question: has the leading goal-per-minute scorer in Premier League history actually been hampered by his team’s tactics in his Man City career? Given his success as a lone striker thus far this season, it’s certainly possible.

Of course, Pellegrini cannot simply set up his team to aid Agüero’s pursuit of the Golden Boot and furthering his record Premier League goal scoring rate. But there are obvious non-Agüero benefits of playing five midfielders, in terms of better control of possession as well as added defensive stability.

Looking just one spot above them in the table, City can even find a perfect model for the “set up the team to feed your one fantastic striker” approach. Chelsea has ridden Diego Costa’s goals and the stability of a five-man midfield to a five-point lead in the title race. To keep their London rivals from running away with the title by Christmas, City may need to unleash the full Sergio Agüero Experience™ sooner rather than later.

All statistics courtesy of Opta.