Haaland rout tames Wolves
Erling Haaland scored four times as Manchester City thrashed Wolves 5-1 to move within one point of Arsenal after the Premier League leaders beat Bournemouth 3-0 last Saturday (May 4).
The Norweigian striker scored two penalties, a fine curled finish and a majestic header to make it 36 goals in all competitions this season as Pep Guardiola’s team look to retain their league title.
Hwang Hee-chan pulled one back for Wolves before Julian Alvarez capped City’s sixth consecutive league win, extending their unbeaten run in the competition to 20 games.
The reigning champions, who have a game in hand on Arsenal, will clinch an unprecedented fourth successive English title if they win their last three matches.
They head to Fulham tomorrow (May 11) before visiting Tottenham on May 14 and hosting West Ham five days later.
“It’s three games, hopefully we win the first and the second and arrive to the third with our destiny in our own hands,” Guardiola said.
At the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal cruised to a fourth successive victory, with goals from Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard and Declan Rice.
Chasing their first title since 2004, Arsenal’s 26th Premier League victory this season equalled the club’s top-flight record for a single campaign.
“It was probably the best first half we’ve played all season,” Gunners boss Mikel Arteta said.
Arsenal travel to Manchester United in their penultimate game on Sunday before hosting Everton on May 19.
Liverpool shattered Tottenham’s hopes of finishing in the top four with a 4-2 win that left Aston Villa on the brink of Champions League qualification despite their 1-0 defeat at Brighton on Sunday.
Mohamed Salah opened the scoring for Jurgen Klopp’s team before further goals from Cody Gapko, Andrew Roberton and Harvey Elliott put Liverpool in cruise control, despite late goals from Son Heung-min and Richarlison.
Villa are seven points ahead of fifthplaced Tottenham, who have a game in hand but will miss out on the top four if Unai Emery’s men win one of their remaining two matches.
At the bottom, Burnley’s hopes of avoiding relegation suffered a huge blow as Newcastle ran riot in a 4-1 win at Turf Moor to leave Vincent Kompany’s second bottom side five points from safety, with only two games left remaining.
However, fourth bottom Nottingham Forest took a giant step towards survival with a 3-1 win against already-relegated Sheffield United, while Luton remain in trouble after they could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to Everton.
Elsewhwere, West London rivals Brentford and Fulham shared a dour 0-0 draw and Manchester United’s tumultuous season hit anither low when they were hammered 4-0 by Crystal Palace on Monday.