🎥 OTD: New man begins cult hero trajectory at Man City 🇧🇪 | OneFootball

Premier League giants Manchester City have come a long way from their formative years in the English top flight as a side battling relegation.

Think back to the 2006/2007 campaign, when City were right in the thick of a dogfight that ultimately saw them finish 14th and just four points clear of the bottom three.

Émile Mpenza was one key reason why City lived to fight another day.

After joining in February 2007 after a brief stint with Al-Rayyan, the Belgian international was determined to set the record straight on the back of criticism surrounding his move to Qatar.

In the wake of scoring his first goal for the club during a 2-0 away win at Middlesbrough, Mpenza once again found the back of the net in critical fashion, bagging the only goal in a 1-0 win at St. James' Park.

With City struggling to pick up results at home, stealing points while on the march away from friendly territory proved decisive, with each of Mpenza's three goals coming on the road, capped off by another strike against Tottenham on the final day of the season.

The rest, as they say, is history, but for the Man City faithful, many will forever be indebted to the man from Zellik.

📸 Matthew Lewis - 2007 Getty Images