Haaland to the fore for City
Erling Haaland hit back at former Manchester United captain Roy Keane after the Manchester City striker scored four goals to crush Wolves and leave the Premier League champions three wins away from making history.
Keane, now a television pundit, had likened Haaland’s “general play” to that of a League Two footballer after City’s goalless draw against Arsenal in March.
But Haaland scoffed when asked about the former Manchester United captain’s recent criticism after taking his tally for the season to 35 goals in City’s 5-1 demolition of Wolves.
Haaland’s father, Alfie, has history with Keane after the Irishman made what he later admitted was a premeditated tackle on the then City midfielder in 2001 and his son clearly appears to have no love for Keane either.
Asked if Keane’s put-down was the sort of thing that fired him up, Haaland said: “I don’t really care that much about that man, so that’s all right.”
City manager Pep Guardiola said Haaland’s performance – which included two penalties, a stunning header and blistering finish from range – was proof the Norway striker was “back in business”. The goals took his tally to seven in his past four league outings as City responded to Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Bournemouth earlier in the day to move within a point of the leaders with a game in hand.
City will become the first English side to win four consecutive top flight titles if they beat Fulham, Spurs and West Ham in their remaining three matches and head into those games with Haaland in imperious form.
“It looks comfortable but it was not,” said Guardiola, whose side is also in the FA Cup final. “But Erling is back to business. Penalties are a guarantee but the second and fourth [goals] were unbelievable.”
Haaland claimed Guardiola never allows him to rest on his laurels. “I have a manager who pushes me. I try to develop every single day. We have four finals left for our season and we are going to go for it.’’
Haaland came off to a standing ovation but looked unhappy on the bench and threw down his sock strappings, with Guardiola revealing the Norwegian was frustrated that his perceived rough treatment by Wolves was not dealt with by referee Craig Pawson.
“He was frustrated with the referee. With the long balls sometimes they push him and he is pulled. Yes, it is like that,” Guardiola said. “He went down and sometimes it was no foul [given]. It happens every game a lot of times. He was just a bit frustrated for these actions but I can guarantee how happy he was today.”
Wolves manager Gary O’Neil claimed City’s first penalty was a “terrible” decision after a foul by Rayan Ait-Nouri on Josko Gvardiol but accused his side of making it too easy for the champions.
“They [City] have an incredible focus at this point, history tells you during the run in they are fairly tough to stop but we gave them a couple of lifts in the game,” he said.
Arsenal’s win over Bournemouth came courtesy of a penalty by Bukayo Saka and goals to Leondro Trossard and Declan Rice.
In other matches, All Whites striker Chris Wood wasn’t on the scoresheet but his Nottingham Forest team still enjoyed an excellent day, beating Sheffield United 3-1 to ease its relegation worries. Burnley’s 4-1 loss to Newcastle gives Forest a threepoint cushion over Luton (who drew 1-1 with Everton on Saturday) with two points further back to Burnley. Only two games remain - Sheffield United are already relegated.
Brentford and Fulham drew 0-0 in the other match.
“We have four finals left for our season and we are going to go for it.”
Manchester City striker Erling Haaland