Sergio Aguero's Return Provides Manchester City with Title Boost They Need

Manchester City have been boosted by the return of Sergio Aguero ahead of Monday night’s vital trip to Arsenal.

The striker, who injured his heel during City’s 3-1 win over Southampton at the end of November, returned to training on Wednesday, per the club's official website. And providing there is no reaction during the team’s sessions this week, he should be available for the game at the Emirates Stadium.

Aguero—the finest striker in the Premier League—has had a disappointing season, with injuries once again restricting his appearances.

Only a five-goal haul against Newcastle United at the beginning of October has seen him reach his best.

In his absence, Wilfried Bony has been the man to carry the striking burden, but despite scoring seven goals in his last 12 appearances, he's failed to plug the gap left by the Argentina star. 

With City now primarily playing a system with one striker leading the line, movement and pace are vital attributes of the role. Bony has so far failed to convince that the 4-2-3-1 formation suits his style of play. 

The key now is to get Aguero back to full match sharpness as quickly as possible and hope he remains injury free for the remainder of the season. 

He has struggled in the past with hamstring injuries, but the latest setback, which saw him miss four games, was an impact injury and less of a concern for the club's medical staff. 

Alex Livesey/Getty Images

City’s form has been patchy in recent weeks, and they find themselves third in the Premier League table—one point below Arsenal and three adrift of surprise leaders Leicester.

For City to get a positive result against the Gunners, there will need to be a significant improvement in their performance level.

They have lost three of their last eight games, and even in some of their recent victories, such as last weekend’s 2-1 win over Swansea, there was clearly room for improvement.

Perhaps their worst performance of the season came two weeks ago at Stoke City. Manuel Pellegrini’s side were outplayed from start to finish, with little quality or desire evident in their display.

Pellegrini suggested afterwards his side were tired after the midweek Champions League trip to Juventus, with injuries making it impossible for him to rotate in the way he would ideally have liked.

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“We are playing in other competitions with the same 13 or 14 players,” he told reporters.

“For me, seeing the game, without doubt they didn't recover from the last two games.

“In this game we are playing with the same players in the last three games—maybe it’s the reason why we didn't play with the energy that we need to win.”

There can be no excuses on Monday evening. City have had a free week to rest and recover after their last-gasp 2-1 win over Swansea.

That game once again saw them looking shaky at the back, with the Swans finding it too easy to play through the City back line.

Their form threatens their involvement in the title race, and per Tim Rich of the Independent, goalkeeper Joe Hart is fully aware his side need to show an upswing in their displays.

Hart said:

"

We need to be a million per cent better against Arsenal. We need to step up. We can be awesome when we want to be, so we need to be more consistent.

It is a shame it needs the dragon to be poked before we come out of the cage

We know what we have got here and it is frustrating when we don’t do it. I think about it now and we are near the top of the league, we went through in the Champions League as group winners and we are in the semi-finals of the Capital One Cup. 

We are in a good place but we just need to start performing as we know we can—at least seven or eight of us. We know every couple of weeks people will have off days.

"

Alex Livesey/Getty Images

City know they can't afford too many more off-days between now and the end of the season. They have reached a crucial stage of the season and remain on course in all the competitions they have been involved in. 

If they improve now and begin to show consistency, they could have a memorable, trophy-laden campaign. 

Continue stuttering as they have been and the likelihood is they will end the season empty-handed. 

Rob Pollard is Bleacher Report's lead Manchester City correspondent and will be following the club from a Manchester base throughout the 2015/16 season. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @RobPollard_.