Haaland sets new records as Man. City beat Leicester …and Arsenal drop points in London derby
Erling Haaland continued his jaw-dropping assault on the Premier League on Saturday as he netted a first-half brace to equal Mohamed Salah’s single-season goal-scoring record in Manchester City’s 3-1 victory over beleaguered Leicester City on Saturday.
Haaland increased his haul to 32 goals to tie Salah’s mark for a 38-game season — and the 22-year-old Norwegian scoring machine has eight games still to play.
Only four days earlier, Haaland became the first player in English football to score a record 45 goals in a season in all competitions during City’s 3-0 win over Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal.
On Saturday, that record tally increased to 47 goals.
Pep Guardiola sat out his star striker for the second half at Etihad Stadium on Saturday, giving him some rest before the second leg of their Champions League showdown with Bayern.
Guardiola’s side, who are unbeaten in 14 matches in all competitions, trail leaders Arsenal by four points with a game in hand in their breakneck race for the Premier League title after the Gunners drew 2-2 with West Ham yesterday.
“I think we are very happy with three more points. Three more points closer to Arsenal and we are chasing them,” Manchester City midfielder, Kalvin Phillips, told the BBC.
“Our standards slipped a little towards the end, there were a few mistakes and we had a couple of substitutions. Overall we are happy with the first 60 minutes or so.”
John Stones put City ahead in the in the fifth minute. With the ball flying around the box like pinball, Stones got his left foot on it to beat keeper, Daniel Iversen.
Haaland made it 2-0 with a penalty in the 12th minute, awarded due to Wilfred Ndidi’s handball. He calmly slotted it into the bottom right corner.
He scored his second in the 25th minute after Kevin De Bruyne steamrolled past Ndidi to feed Haaland, who finished with a chip past Daniel Iversen.
Trailing 3-0, former City man Kelechi Iheanacho pulled one back for Leicester in the 75th minute.
Leaders, Arsenal, missed a penalty and threw away a two-goal lead as they drew at West Ham in a blow to their hopes of winning the Premier League.
A close-range finish from Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard’s volley put the visitors 2-0 ahead inside the opening 10 minutes at London Stadium as they looked to be cruising to the victory.
But, Mikel Arteta’s side could not hold on to their advantage and dropped valuable points in their title battle with Manchester City.
Said Benrahma’s penalty, after Gabriel had brought down Lucas Paqueta, gave the Hammers a way back into the game, before Arsenal got a spot-kick of their own, following Michail Antonio’s handball, but Bukayo Saka shot wide.
That proved costly as the hosts scored less than three minutes later through Jarrod Bowen’s superb volley from Thilo Kehrer’s lofted pass.
West Ham, still 15th in the table but now four points above the relegation zone, could have won it when Antonio’s header bounced off the crossbar in a frantic finish. —BBC
