Erling answers the City call to keep up title pace
ON THE MARK: Manchester City's Erling Haaland celebrates. Pic: Mike Egerton/PA Wire.
Erling Haaland answered the call for Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City to ensure that his manager’s 300th game in charge of the club ended with a 221st victory.
Four more over the remaining three weeks of the current season will guarantee something else; a fourth consecutive league title, something no team has ever achieved since the competition came into being in 1889.
That is the territory we are entering as City prepare for Saturday’s home game with Wolves and a final day visit of West Ham, book-ending trips to Fulham and Spurs in London.
This is a manager for the ages, a team for the ages, who could be about to do something no team has ever done before and, who knows, may not do for the next 135 years of English football, either.
It would certainly take a bold bet to wager against that happening and, surely, only the most optimistic of Arsenal fans would do so, as Haaland’s second goal ensured City kept pace with them, in what has become a breathless two-horse title sprint with Arsenal.
Struggling Forest threatened to punish a sub-par performance from a City side without the ill Phil Foden and with Haaland starting on the bench as he recovers from injury.
But, nine minutes after coming on, the Norwegian jumped onto a through ball from Kevin De Bruyne, one of two assists he would provide on the day, and skipped past Murillo before rolling in a superb 70th minute finish.
“We would prefer Arsenal lose but we cannot control what they do,” said Guardiola. “We have to assume they are not going to lose any points and so we know what we have to do.
“It was really hard. We knew how the game was going to happen and we were so lucky, with the chances they had and the conditions they had to score. It was an incredible opportunity for them.
“We lost a lot of balls and simple things. But the players were really good, suffering, and the second half was much better. Before then, the game was so dangerous.
“I know we were lucky with the chances they had.” Few teams in Premier League history have had City’s experience of dealing with late-season title dramas and, after Arsenal’s London derby win earlier in the day, the pressure was firmly on the defending champions.
It threatened to be a trying afternoon when, with just 20 seconds on the clock, Ola Aina’s far-post cross found Neco Williams who mistimed his shot disappointingly and failed to make decent contact.
And when City took a 32nd minute lead, that Forest miss looked like being a costly one - for them, and Mikel Arteta’s title challengers.
It came in rudimentary fashion, after Willians conceded a corner in blocking a Jack Grealish shot, sustaining an injury which forced him off the field and, eventually, to the bench.
While Forest were left with 10 men, De Bruyne sent over a perfect near-post cross which Josko Gvardiol met, and converted, with a superb angled header.
It was the Croatian defender’s third goal in his last five games, after not scoring in his first 32 for City, and an indication of how even the more unlikely players can hit the right notes for a Guardiola team in the deciding stages of a Premier League season.
But it was a shock that City reached the half-time interval with that lead intact, given how they were put under pressure by the home side.
Ederson sustained an injury, and might have conceded a penalty for a foul on Willy Boly as Forest pressured the visitors, and would eventually come off at the interval to be replaced by Stefan Ortega.
“Ederson does not look good,” admitted Guardiola. “We will see with the doctor, how his shoulder is.” Chris Wood then completely mis-kicked, with the City goal open in front of him, from Gonzalo Montiel’s cross, and the half ended with Ederson losing a corner and Murillo scooping a hurried shot over.
Wood, guilty of that bad first half miss, repeated the feat early in the second half, failing to make strong connection with Anthony Elanga’s cross from six yards and seeing the shot blocked by Gvardiol.
Forest continued to threaten although Guardiola’s response was not a bad one to be able to play, bringing on Haaland for Grealish who had become less effective as the game wore on.
Quickly, City made a chance for Julian Alvarez who hurried a shot over as his side looked for the extra goal they desperately needed to enjoy a more comfortable closing half-hour.
And De Bruyne might have wrapped it up on 68 minutes with a committed run and terrific strike which was superbly diverted away from goal by Matz Sels.
For Forest, manager Nuno Espírito Santo expects to hear this week whether his team’s appeal against their four-point deduction has succeeded. “We are waiting on that decision and hopefully it is very soon,” he said. “We don’t know how many point we have and when we do it will be good for everyone. Not only us but also the rest of the league as well.”
Sels 7; Williams 7 (Montiel 34, 6), Niakhate 7, Boly 6 (Sangare 84), Murillo 7 (Omobamidele, 74, 5), Aina 7; Elanga 7 (Reyna 74, 5), Danilo 6 (Yates 74, 5), Gibbs-White 7, Hudson-Odoi 7; Wood 4. Substitutes (not used) Turner, Toffolo, Origi, Ribeiro.
Ederson 6 (Ortega 45, 6); Walker 6, Akanji 6, Ake 7, Gvardiol 7; Rodri 7; Doku 6 (Kovacic 45, 6), Silva 6, De Bruyne 8 (Nunes 88), Grealish 6 (Haaland 61, 7); Alvarez 6 (Bobb 88). Stones, Gomez, Carson, Lewis.
S Hooper 7
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
