Haaland regains his scoring touch for Man City
Erling Haaland erased any questions about his scoring touch on Tuesday, netting Manchester City’s only goal in a 1-0 victory over Brentford which lifted them into second place in the Premier League table.
Pep Guardiola’s team, unbeaten in their last 10 league matches and finally even in games played with title rivals Liverpool and Arsenal, have 56 points, one ahead of Arsenal in a title race that looks destined to go down to the wire. Brentford are five points above the relegation zone in 14th.
Haaland, who three days earlier pushed away a camera in frustration after failing to score with nine shots in a 1-1 draw with Chelsea, was back in form, increasing his league tally to 17.
The Norwegian broke the deadlock in the 71st minute when he sprinted onto a through ball from Julian Alvarez and then stroked it past a slipping Kristoffer Ajer before beating keeper Mark Flekken.
Haaland has now scored against every Premier League club he has faced. He has yet to play Luton Town.
Guardiola issued a warning to Haaland’s critics, saying the Norwegian had come through a difficult period in his life.
“Top strikers score a lot of goals, don’t criticise, he will shut your mouth. Sooner or later he is there, ” Guardiola told reporters.
“He was out for two months [with a foot injury], and he lost his grandmother. It is not easy for a human being.
“We spoke about the moment and I realised this later, but he didn ’ t say anything about the passing away of his grandmother. In this type of game like Brentford, you need Erling.”
Guardiola said he left Manchester City’s playmaker Kevin De Bruyne on the bench because of “hamstring niggles ” .
Haaland, who had scored just two goals in his previous seven games, had another effort ruled out late in the game because Kyle Walker was offside in the build-up.
Chelsea frustrated City on Saturday and it was more of the same on Tuesday — besides Haaland’s goal — City taking 25 shots, 11 on target, to Brentford’s two, with Flekken producing an excellent performance.
Oscar Bobb, who made his first Premier League start, had one of City ’ s best chances, deftly cutting around Christian Norgaard before unleashing a shot which defender Ben Mee sprinted back to and just cleared off the line.
Brentford missed a huge early opportunity when Frank Onyeka ran onto a pass from Yoane Wissa, but shot straight at City keeper Ederson.
“It wasn’t easy. We scored a goal on the counterattack,” City defender Manuel Akanji said. “The defender slipped early and the efficiency was there [from Haaland]. He scored a great goal.
“We know how hard it is to play against Brentford, with their back five. That’s why we tried to attack and we didn’t run into too many counterattacks. I can’t remember too many big chances they had. After the weekend we had to show a reaction and I feel we did that. Now we have to improve game by game.”
Brentford manager Thomas Frank lamented the misstep that led to Haaland’s goal.
“It was an unlucky situation if Kristoffer doesn’t slip, I’m convinced it was never going to be a goal,” he said. “Haaland is quick, but Kristoffer is just as quick and it would never have been a goal. City are good enough with their quality. They don’t need the margins going their way. I think we needed it more than them.”