Erling Haaland scored for the first time in the Premier League since February on Sunday, and his intervention was more than worth the wait as it gave Manchester City a 2-1 win over Arsenal which put them in the driving seat to win the title. A magical dribble from Rayan Cherki gave City the lead in the make-or-break showdown in Manchester, only for a terrible touch by Gianluigi Donnarumma to hand Kai Havertz an equaliser.
But Haaland pounced in the second half to give City a win that means they will go top of the table on goal difference if they win against Burnley on Wednesday.
City made a lightning-quick start and could have had two goals within the first five minutes. Haaland closed David Raya down following a short goal-kick and was almost rewarded, while seconds later, Haaland had a shot which was blocked and led to Cherki firing at goal. The ball bounced off the shoulder of Gabriel Magalhaes, against the post and rolled across the line but somehow stayed out.
Cherki broke the deadlock by conjuring one of the goals of the season all by himself, slaloming his way through three defenders before slotting into the far bottom corner. But less than 60 seconds later, his moment of genius was undone by a moment of madness by Donnarumma, who took a heavy touch in his area and his desperate kick fired hit against the body of Havertz and rebounded into the net.
Donnarumma went some way towards making amends for his gaffe by denying Havertz at point-blank-range in a heart-in-mouth moment in the second half which was quickly followed by Eberechi Eze firing against the inside of the post. Haaland had also hit the post early in the second period, but when given a second bite of the cherry, he made no mistake.
GOAL rates City’s players from the Etihad Stadium…
