Erling Haaland’s sixth Premier League hat-trick, completed in the opening 45 minutes and including two penalties, indicated that the goalscoring phenomenon is back in brutal mood at the best of times. Manchester City,
After this emphatic win, when Haaland added the peach of a fourth after the interval, City can do what Arsenal are doing to them: put the pressure on in this tight title race by winning at Fulham next Saturday, two points Go ahead, and make the Gunners think before kick-off at Manchester United 24 hours later.
Lose to Eric ten Hag’s unpredictable band and City could break Arsenal’s hearts for the second consecutive term, and become champions of England for a historic fourth year in a row, if Tottenham lose two days later.
For this definition of a must-win match, Pep Guardiola could field the Kevin De Bruyne-Haaland axis in the competition for the eighth time this season. Like Haaland, Ederson was reinstated in goal, thanks to the cunning of Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden on the flanks, the flair of Josco Guardiol on the left, the pace of Kyle Walker on the right of the central defensive pairing of Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake, as well as Rodri and With Mateo Kovacic patrolling the midfield, it was a formidable unit that Wolves were asked to overcome.
City passed the ball aggressively. Silva and Guardiol combined to bring down Rodri hard, and a pass was sent over Jose Sa. Here, a good sign, because the next time the champions advanced, the penalty was conceded.
Silva, again, crossed for Gvardiol and as Croatia pulled the trigger, Ryan Ait-Nouri towered over him and Craig Pawson pointed to the spot. Soft, maybe, but Haaland didn’t care as he beat Sa, who dived to the left and well past the keeper.
Guardiola offered a fist-pump in the direction of the posh seats and City held on for 12 minutes because, early on, Wolves were scared. In a blur of blue, the next attack ended with De Bruyne striking wide, Haaland’s header forcing Saw to dive to save and Max Kilmann low-blocking to deny Foden.
City’s pace was fast, their rhythm relentless. Good news for their Championship defence, bad news for Arsenal. They – and Wolves – expected the hosts to lose concentration, such as when Kovacic was picked off midway through the half, but Silva, running back to assist his teammates, epitomized City’s mentality. Was.
Better for Wolves, there was a cross from the right, Hwang Hee-chan almost connected and the same player pinged in from the left: much to the delight of Gary O’Neill, who was watching from the stands due to touchline restrictions. Were.
Optimism quickly evaporated for the visiting manager. De Bruyne flicked it on to Rodri whose scoop to the far post was just as accurate as Haaland’s header was driven beyond Sa and inside Wolves’ left post. Premier League Strike number 23 for the striker and his first with a header since the 3–0 derby win over United in November.
Holland’s half ended in two penalty hat-tricks. This time a burst of pace took him into the area, Nelson Semedo tripped his left foot to the Norwegian’s right, he went down and after being denied a spot-kick, Pawson changed his mind after reviewing the pitchside screen. . Again, the penalty went to Sa’s right and again he could not stop it.
City’s task in the second half was to keep pushing forward, as Guardiola demanded. they did. Rodri worked the ball to the composed Foden whose effort was half-hit and there was no problem for Sa.
What happened next was a surprise to Ederson, as Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, introduced for this period, headed the ball towards the far post from the right and Hwang finished.
Guardiola’s anger subsided after a few seconds. Ederson found Foden whose long diagonal was taken down by Haaland. The touch was awkward, but when he turned the ball onto his left foot, a thunderbolt struck SA high and into the corner. The smile with which he greeted it was boyish and spoke of pure joy at scoring, his insistence on congratulating Foden generously.
Haaland was back in the era of last season’s 52-goal campaign.
The laser he then fired with his right foot burned Sa’s fingers as the besieged Portuguese somehow refused to give a fifth to greedy Holland.
Shortly thereafter, O’Neal was shown on TV giving instructions through a microphone, presumably to a coach sitting on the bench. Apart from demanding the secret fielding of the 12th man, what could he have done to get his team out of this tangled mess.
Julian Alvarez arrived home to conclude a letter of intent, for Haaland, who cannot be ignored in the red zone of north London.