Erling Haaland ended his 90-minute goal drought with a brace as Manchester City beat Brighton 3-1 to close the gap to Arsenal.
After a frustrating time of things at Anfield a week ago, Haaland continued his remarkable record on home soil as he made it 12 goals in his first five Premier League matches at the Etihad. It’s 17 in all in the league, six short of Heung-min Son and Mohamed Salah’s total last season as they shared the Golden Boot.
The latest two from Haaland came in the first-half and although Leandro Trossard halved the deficit after the break as the Seagulls piled on the pressure, Kevin De Bruyne restored the two-goal advantage with a stunning finish as City moved a point behind Arsenal at the top of the table.
It was a relatively even start at the Etihad, both sides looking comfortable in possession without creating anything in the way of clear-cut chances.
Haaland went down after beating Robert Sanchez to the ball, only for the referee and VAR to dismiss those appeals, but the Norwegian had to wait barely a minute before his goal did come. Ederson punted a wonderful ball over the top with Haaland again too quick for Sanchez and, once Adam Webster had just been bounced to the floor, the City striker rolled the ball into the empty net.
His and City’s tally was doubled just before the break, as Bernardo Silva this time went down in the box. No penalty was given and play continued for a significant amount of time, before the referee eventually halted proceedings as he went over to look at the monitor. He returned to point to the spot, and Haaland did the rest despite Sanchez going the right way.
Brighton were much the better side immediately after the break, though Riyad Mahrez had the chance to put the match to bed as Sanchez produced a good save with his feet. That proved a costly miss seconds later when the Seagulls halved the deficit, Trossard hammering a strike past Ederson at the near post to end Brighton’s long run without a goal.
The visitors pushed for an equaliser and looked by far the more dangerous of the two sides, Trossard driving into box as he looked for his second but this time Ederson was up to the task.
With nerves starting to build, De Bruyne stepped up to restore control and effectively put the match to bed. Bernardo found the Belgian, who from 25 yards out whipped a sensational finish into the top corner to bring an immediate halt to the Brighton charge.
