Haaland scores 11th EPL goal, City beats 10-man Wolves 3-0

Erling Haaland added a strike from outside the area to his repertoire of goals since joining Manchester City in a 3-0 win at 10-man Wolverhampton in the Premier League on Saturday.

City had already taken the lead through Jack Grealish after 55 seconds at Molineux when Haaland picked up the ball 40 meters out, drove toward the penalty box and shot rightfooted into the bottom corner from the edge of the area in the 16th minute.

It was Haaland's 11th goal in seven league games since his offseason arrival from Borussia Dortmund — with the majority coming from right in front of goal.

"I didn't know he could score from outside the box," Grealish said jokingly, while calling Haaland "the best striker in the world playing up front."

Wolverhampton's already-slim chances virtually ended when center back Nathan Collins was shown a straight red card for a chest-high lunge on Grealish in the 33rd.

Phil Foden swept in a rightwing cross from Kevin De Bruyne, who provided a similar assist for Grealish's goal, in the 69th minute to round off a win that took City above Arsenal into first place — at least overnight.

City has scored 23 goals in the first seven games of its title defense — comfortably more than any other team — and Haaland has almost half of them.

On the other hand, Grealish has just the one — and he knows he needs to score more to justify being the most expensive Premier League player ever after joining from Aston Villa for 100 million pounds (then $139 million) in the offseason of 2021.

"Rightly so people have been asking questions — I should be scoring more and getting more assists," the England international said.

"I am always going to have people talking about me with the money that was spent on me, but all my career I haven't scored enough goals. I do want to add that to my game."

City manager Pep Guardiola was particularly happy after the lunchtime kickoff considering the quick turnaround for his team from a Wednesday night game against Dortmund in the Champions League — when Haaland scored, naturally, with a flying volley.

"After the Champions League, a 12:30 (p.m. kickoff), to come to this team, with the quality they have … we did an incredible victory," Guardiola said.

Isak penalty earns Newcastle 1-1 draw against Bournemouth

Alexander Isak rescued a point for Newcastle with his first goal at St. James' Park, converting a penalty in a 1-1 draw with Bournemouth in the English Premier League on Saturday.

The Sweden striker sent Brazilian goalkeeper Neto the wrong way from the spot in the 67th, five minutes after Philip Billing gave Bournemouth the lead against the run of play.

Isak has two goals in three games since joining from Real Sociedad for a club-record fee of $70 million in the final week of the transfer window. He also netted against Liverpool at Anfield on his debut.

It was a fifth draw in seven games for Saudi-funded Newcastle, which is on eight points like the visitors.

Bournemouth continued its encouraging performances and upturn in results since firing Scott Parker after a 9-0 loss at Liverpool at the end of August. In three games under caretaker manager Gary O'Neil, the southcoast team has two draws and a win at Nottingham Forest.

Newcastle dominated the game but found Neto in top form while also hitting the goal frame twice, through Kieran Trippier off a free kick and Joelinton with a curling shot.

Bournemouth barely threatened before finally getting numbers upfield and Jordan Zemura crossed from the left toward Billing, who poked out his left foot and volleyed in past wrongfooted goalkeeper Nick Pope.

Newcastle soon got back on level terms after Jefferson Lerma gave away a penalty by blocking Trippier's cross with his left hand. Isak had been quiet until that point but grabbed the ball and made no mistake from the spot.

Bologna loses 1-0 to Empoli in Motta's 1st match in charge

Thiago Motta's first match in charge of Bologna ended in disappointment as his team hit the woodwork twice in a 1-0 defeat at home to fellow struggler Empoli in Serie A on Saturday.

Filippo Bandinelli's second goal in as many matches was enough to give Empoli its first win of the season.

Motta started as Bologna coach on Monday, replacing Siniša Mihajlović, who was fired the previous week.

Youth squad coach Luca Vigiani had been in charge for the 2-1 victory over Fiorentina last weekend, Bologna first win this season.

It is the third coaching job for Motta, who directed Spezia to safety last season after also coaching Genoa in 2019.

Empoli had the better of the chances in the first half but Bologna dominated the second period.

It was awarded a penalty in the 59th minute after a cross hit the arm of Empoli defender Petar Stojanović. But, after a lengthy decision with the video assistant referee, referee Manuel Volpi reversed his decision because of an offside in the buildup.

Empoli took the lead against the run of play in the 77th when, under pressure, Bologna goalkeeper Łukasz Skorupski allowed Liam Henderson's cross to squirm out of his hands and Bandinelli tapped into an empty net.

Bologna almost leveled immediately but a header from Marko Arnautović, who had earlier drawn a fantastic save from Empoli goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, came off the right post.

Substitute Joshua Zirkzee also volleyed a corner off the crossbar in stoppage time, two minutes after coming off the bench.

Empoli's victory means there are only three teams still seeking their first win of the Serie A season.

One of those, Sampdoria, was playing at Spezia later. Also, Torino coach Ivan Juric returns after missing two matches with pneumonia as his squad hosts Sassuolo.