Haaland scored two goals and helped Man City win against Brentford 2-1, putting them three points ahead at the top of the Premier League.
City capitalized on Liverpool’s loss to establish a commanding lead at the summit of the standings, extending their flawless record to four consecutive victories, despite encountering significant challenges at the outset.
However, Haaland’s form at the start of the season remains unstoppable, even if the Norwegian just missed out on a record third consecutive hat-trick in the Premier League.
The 24-year-old’s powerful deflected effort brought City level before he showed a combination of strength and skill to shrug off Ethan Pinnock and dink the ball over the onrushing Mark Flekken.
Only the post denied Haaland another hat-trick after half-time but he now has a Premier League record nine goals in the first four games of the season.
“He’s just an absolute machine in front of goal and I can’t speak highly enough of him,” said City’s Jack Grealish of Haaland, who had been doubtful due to the death this week of a close family friend.
“It does speak volumes about him as a person and his mental strength.”
Earlier, Manchester United eased the pressure on Erik ten Hag with a comfortable 3-0 win at Southampton.
United had been left to fester on their humbling by Liverpool for two weeks over the international break, but bounced back after a slow start at Southampton.
The Red Devils needed a penalty save from Andre Onana to deny Cameron Archer before two goals in five minutes just before half-time swung the game decisively in the visitors’ favour.
Matthijs de Ligt nodded in his first United goal before Marcus Rashford ended his six-month drought by finding the bottom corner with a curling effort.
Southampton are yet to register a point in four games since their return to the top flight and inflicted more damage on themselves when captain Jack Stephens saw red for a wild lunge on Alejandro Garnacho.
The Argentine dusted himself off to then round off the scoring with a thumping finish into the roof of the net in stoppage time.
“Once Andre stopped the penalty, straight after, we scored a goal with Matthijs de Ligt, the game was all ours and we dominate the game from that point,” said Ten Hag.
AFP