The Manchester City winger has hit a career-best 30 goals in all competitions so far, to leave himself one shy of a century for the Club after 241 appearances.
In the absence of the injured Sergio Aguero, Sterling has taken on the mantle of being City’s top scorer, netting 20 times in the Premier League and five times in Europe.
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His tally is completed with three Carabao Cup goals and one apiece in the FA Cup and Community Shield and it could well grow should we progress in the Champions League.
But how exactly, has Sterling gone about doing what is widely regarded as the hardest job in football?
Standing at 5’7, the 25-year-old is very much a winger rather than an out and out striker and it is therefore no surprise that most of his goals have come with his feet.
Twenty times he has fired home with his favoured right foot, whilst he has hit seven with his left and successfully converted three headers - the most he’s managed in a single season.
Of those strikes, eight have been match-winning goals.
Only Gabriel Jesus (nine), has been more decisive for City this season, and Sterling’s number equals the career best total he achieved last season, to further evidence that his improved form in front of goal has grown his status as a match-winner.
In the 2017/18 Centurions campaign, our No.7 developed something of a knack for scoring late in the day.
Few will forget his heroics in the South Coast sunshine at Bournemouth, when he struck deep into added time, or his superb winning goal against Southampton which arrived in the 96th minute.
Seven of Sterling’s 23 goals came after 85 minutes in that campaign, but this season it has been a different story.
The stats would suggest Pep Guardiola’s half-time team talks have worked wonders, with the winger hitting 12 goals between the 46th and 75th minute of games.
In total, he’s netted 17 times in the second half, compared to 13 in the opening 45 minutes, to maintain the trend of his previous two seasons.
Last December, Sterling said he was obsessed with scoring goals and City have certainly reaped the rewards of his insatiable appetite for hitting the back of the net.
With Guardiola expecting Aguero to miss next week’s all-important Champions League game against Real Madrid, he will be hoping his top scorer isn’t done this season.
