Pep Guardiola hailed Erling Haaland after the “incredible” striker set a Manchester City goal record as the Premier League champions thrashed Bournemouth 4-1 to keep the pressure on leaders Arsenal on Saturday. Haaland scored his 27th goal in 24 Premier League appearances, establishing a new single-season City record in the competition as he moved past Sergio Aguero’s total of 26 in 2014-15. Guardiola’s side were already leading at Dean Court through Julian Alvarez’s early strike by the time Haaland netted. Phil Foden’s first league goal since November and a Chris Mepham own goal completed City’s first win in their last three games in all competitions.
Couldn’t afford slip up
Arsenal’s 1-0 win at Leicester earlier on Saturday had piled the pressure on City, who could ill afford to slip up for a second successive weekend. They had blown the lead in a 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest last Saturday, allowing Arsenal to reclaim top spot in the process. City had also failed to hold onto their advantage in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw at Leipzig in the Champions League last 16 first leg. But City had never lost to Bournemouth in 18 previous meetings and they routed the strugglers for the second time this season to move within two points of Arsenal, who have a game in hand against Everton on Wednesday. “Considering the amount of games and a lot of travel we played incredibly aggressive. Our attack was more dynamic and we got a good result,” Guardiola said.
Also read: Pep Guardiola: We missed easy goals
‘We love him’
“Erling Haaland, his impact has been incredible. We love him and he is helping us. Today we found him more and he is an incredible threat.” Despite his barrage of goals, Haaland had endured criticism over the last week amid a growing debate about his perceived flaws and possible negative impact on City this season. Costly misses from Haaland in the Forest draw led some to question if City, champions in four of the past five seasons, are a less cohesive unit with the Norway striker in their line-up. But Haaland’s 33rd goal in 32 appearances in all competitions since signing from Borussia Dortmund last year should silence the doubters for a while at least.
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