In the battle for the Premier League title, Manchester City still hold all the aces after a clear 5-1 win over Wolves. Goalscorer Haaland almost single-handedly demolished the visitors
Pep Guardiola and his Skyblues were looking for revenge for their first-leg defeat at Wolves, and the Spaniard brought Foden, Kovacic and Haaland back to the Etihad Stadium in comparison to the previous week’s 2-0 win over Nottingham. Grealish, Doku and Alvarez (all bench) had to make way for them.
Arsenal’s victory a few hours earlier had put the ball back in the Skyblues’ court, who made short work of Wolves at home with nothing at stake this season.
Gvardiol was fouled by Ait Nouri in the penalty area early on and Haaland successfully dealt with the matter (12′). After that, the visitors continued to let the champions have the ball and resigned themselves to their fate
Wolves without a chance – Haaland again and again
The Citizens did not have to push themselves to the limit and were in complete control of the game, but Haaland missed an early chance to put the game beyond doubt (18th).
Haaland was the man without whom nothing worked in the first half: In the 35th minute, he rose perfectly to head home and increase the score to 2:0; with the break whistle, the speedy Norwegian was hauled off his feet by Semedo and scored a flawless hat-trick with his second penalty goal (45.+3).
Everything seemed to be clear for the second half, but Hwang profited from Ederson’s uncertainty and scored to make it 1:3 (53′). There was a brief glimmer of hope for the visitors – for exactly 56 seconds: Because then Haaland took a long ball from Foden perfectly and slammed it into the net for his fourth goal of the day (54′).
In the battle for the “Golden Boot” in the Premier League, the Norwegian took his goal tally to 25 and extended his lead (Isak has 20 goals) to a respectable level
Haaland scolds – Alvarez scores the final goal
Haaland’s hunger for goals was not quenched afterwards either, but José Sa prevented the five-pointer (61′). While Haaland still had the desire, the pace of the game was otherwise largely gone as the balance of power was too clear.
When Guardiola took the man of the match off the pitch in the 82nd minute, he was visibly unhappy about his substitution and threw his shin pads on the floor. But the Argentinian world champion Alvarez, who came on for the Norwegian, also showed what he can do and increased the score to 5:1 less than three minutes after his substitution (85′). It was the final score in a one-sided match
The championship race in the Premier League is coming to a head in the season finale, with ManCity currently one point behind the Gunners but with one more game in hand. The Sky Blues continue next week with a visit to Fulham FC on Saturday at 1.30 p.m.