8 hours ago
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On Friday Pep Guardiola suggested Erling Haaland’s teammates may wish to support the Norwegian in the goalscoring stakes. Cut to 48 hours later and guess who did the business yet again – twice – for Manchester City to take them into a 2-1 half-time lead that proved unassailable?
Step forward the phenomenon who now has 13 Premier League goals and a seismic total of 98 in 107 appearances in England’s top flight. After him, this year, Burnley’s Maxime Estève – via two own goals – is City’s highest league contributor, followed by Phil Foden, Tijjani Reijnders, Matheus Nunes and Rayan Cherki, who have all scored once.
Both Haaland’s goals punished Andoni Iraola’s high-line strategy as he burst behind Bournemouth, with Nico O’Reilly scoring a third after the break. On 82 minutes Pep Guardiola removed the 25-year-old – to the ovation he deserved – and City’s sixth victory of the season has put them on 19 points, six behind Arsenal and in second, at least until Sunderland host Everton on Monday.
Foden, like Cherki, was a leading support act to Haaland and did so by often popping up in dangerous pockets as he did on the half-turn for Jérémy Doku to find. Space opened, Foden flitted in and then saw his shot smack off Marcos Senesi for a corner on the left. Two followed. Each taken by Foden and each using a near-post Haaland flick to try to cause chaos in the Cherries’ area.
They survived. As had City when, moments into the contest, Eli Junior Kroupi found the net but was offside. This came from a sharp foray and Iraola’s unit replicated the move via Antoine Semenyo who swept them deep into City turf before a pass left to David Brooks.
A better killer instinct and the captain could have homed in on Gianluigi Donnarumma’s goal; instead he allowed Matheus Nunes to outmuscle him and City cleared.
Haaland, the expert in ruthlessness, showed Brooks how. Midway inside City’s half he headed from Foden to Nico González, turned and galloped forward. The holding midfielder chipped to Cherki who, lurking near the halfway line, nodded the ball sweetly into Haaland.
What occurred next offered zero surprise. The No 9 raced in, Adrien Truffert could not catch him, and Haaland had his 25th goal in all competitions, beating Djordje Petrovic to his right – off a leg.
This was after 17 minutes. Haaland’s 26th goal arrived just after the half-hour – after the visitors’ equaliser – and, again, came from a lightning City break.
Foden fed Cherki, whose left boot this time released Haaland who, from an inside-right zone, cut across before, once more, giving Petrovic scant chance, this time rounding the goalkeeper.
Before this, Donnarumma’s poor handling of Alex Scott’s corner from the left allowed the ball to dribble to Tyler Adams and equalise from close range. City’s keeper – and teammates – complained that Brooks impeded him. Brooks did hook a hand around Donnarumma but let it go in time for the Italian to try to punch away, so the goal seemed fair.
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Anthony Taylor provoked more home ire when, before Haaland’s second, the referee rejected a penalty shout after Bernardo Silva’s cross struck Álex Jiménez’s hand: it first hit the right-back’s knee, so this was also a correct decision.
City might have been 3-1 up when O’Reilly’s raid had him turning back across goal but Silva, agonisingly, could not turn the ball home.
Iraola’s homework informed him of City’s susceptibility to the counter and so as the hour neared, his players again went for those in sky blue. Scott tapped to Kroupi and only Donnarumma’s flying leap stopped a second equaliser.
O’Reilly’s goal, the third, was a diagram of why City, in this 10th game of the campaign, are a different beast to last season. Cherki’s pass to Foden was as slick as the toe-poke to O’Reilly that was an assist for the Stockport Iniesta on his 200th Premier League appearance. The big left-back ran in on goal and then left Petrovic flailing with a low shot.
City cruised and searched for another, as is the Guardiola modus operandi. Yet Semenyo kept them honest with a skip past Cherki down the left before a cross that Marcus Tavernier was inches from connecting with.
This meeting came a year to the day since Bournemouth’s first (and only) league win over City initiated a run of four straight defeats and their visitors’ midterm slump. Today was a different tale – as is, so far, the story of each team’s season.
