City draw, Haaland furious with ref
Pep Guardiola said it would be fun.
Manchester City's clash with Tottenham definitely lived up to the pre-match hype after a thrilling 3-3 draw at Etihad Stadium in Manchester yesterday.
Not that Erling Haaland was too happy after referee Simon Hooper denied Jack Grealish the chance to score a stoppage-time winner for the defending Premier League champions.
The Norway international reacted furiously when the whistle was blown for an earlier foul on him just as Grealish looked set to run through on goal. Haaland was booked for his response.
“He’s a little bit disappointed,” City manager Guardiola said. “Even the referee – if he played for Man City today, he would be disappointed for that action, that’s for sure.”
Haaland had been brought down by Tottenham defender Emerson Royal as City went in search of a winner after Dejan Kulusevski's 90th-minute equaliser. But as the forward regained his feet, Hooper appeared to gesture for play to carry on, with Haaland releasing Grealish with a pass.
It was then that the official blew his whistle, much to the anger of the home fans and City's players.
Haaland went on to express his frustration at what had happened in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, when responding to a video of the incident.
Guardiola was asked to comment on the referee's decision in his post-game news conference and was more careful with his response.
“I don’t want to criticise him [the referee],” Guardiola said. “On the touchline sometimes I lose my mind and my gestures are not proper ... But I would say we didn’t draw for that [reason].”
City had twice been ahead in the match and looked to have scored a winner when Grealish came off the bench to make it 3-2 in the 81st.
Kulusevski's header earned Tottenham a point and consigned City to a third straight draw in the league, leaving Guardiola's team three points off league leader Arsenal in third. Liverpool, who beat Fulham 4-3, are a point ahead of City in second place.
Liverpool haven’t lost at Anfield since being routed 5-2 by Real Madrid in the Champions League in February. But a run that now stretches to 19 games looked on the verge of being broken when Bobby De Cordova-Reid put Fulham 3-2 ahead in the 80th minute.
That was until goals from Wataru Endo and Trent Alexander-Arnold in the 87th and 88th minutes completed a dramatic 4-3 win for Jurgen Klopp’s team. Victory moved Liverpool to within two points of leaders Arsenal and maintained their proud home record.
In other matches, Chelsea beat Brighton 3-2, Aston Villa needed a 90th-minute equaliser to rescue a point in a 2-2 draw at Bournemouth while West Ham drew 1-1 with Crystal Palace.