Erling Haaland became the first man to score 35 goals in a Premier League season thanks to Nathan Ake’s opener and Phil Foden’s deflected strike that helped Man City to a 3-0 win over West Ham that moves them back above Arsenal at the top of the table.
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The goal moved Haaland clear of Alan Shearer and Andrew Cole as the first man to hit that mark in the Premier League era.
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Stefan Ortega came in for his Premier League debut with Ederson benched as Pep Guardiola made two further changes to the team that beat Fulham with Bernardo Silva replacing Ilkay Gundogan and Nathan Ake returning in place of Manuel Akanji.
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West Hamon the other hand made four changes, Illnesses to Declan Rice, Tomas Soucek and Nayef Aguerd meant that they joined the injured Kurt Zouma among the absentees. In came Thilo Kehrer, Aaron Cresswell, Angelo Ogbonna and Flynn Downes.
Haaland makes history and Guard of honour
Man City’s Erling Haaland has now scored 35 Premier League goals this season, the most by a player in a single campaign in the competition, and the most by a player in the English top-flight since Ron Davies in 1966-67 netting 37.
“Yes, of course, I knew about it but we tried to create the chances to score goals and it was not easy. They came here just to defend for 90 minutes and we struggled a bit in the first half but it was an important win.”
“You can see what my first thought is – to run towards the goal. Me and Jack spoke before the game – he wanted to give me the assist for the record-breaking goal. I knew I was going to get the ball there and I saw the keeper coming out. “It was a great ball by Jack. When I chipped the ball it was a really perfect bounce. I didn’t think I was going to chip but the possibility was there.
“It was a nice feeling, like every single goal I score. Winning the game is also really important. The guard of honour really hurt – they hit me hard on the back!”
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Foden scores 1,000th City goal under Pep
City have five games left this season. However, Phil Foden made the win even more emphatic when his deflected strike made it three late in the game netting his 1,000th City goal under Pep reaching that landmark in just 404 games. It’s the most of any side across Europe’s big five leagues since he joined the club in 2016.
Finally, asked about Foden scoring the 1,000th goal of his time in charge of Manchester City, Guardiola said: “Yes, but unfortunately I did not score once.” He added, with a smile: “I did not have a guard of honour today but maybe next time.”
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Haaland’s Guard of Honour
“Of course, we thought about that. In football, when there is a special occasion, we have to show how special it is. Today, it was Erling. To score more than Alan Shearer and Andy Cole, top strikers, it is special.
“I think he deserves it. All the team deserves it because without the team he could not do it, but he is a special striker. We are very pleased for him because it is a joy to be with him, to work with him, to manage him. We are happy to have him with us.
“Of course, this record will be broken sooner or later. Maybe by him in the future, maybe by others. But they will have to score a lot of goals because he has scored a lot.
“I remember when we lost against Liverpool in the Community Shield and it was, ‘He will not adapt to the Premier League.’ You sometimes encourage as journalists incredible comments in advance that even ourselves; we do not know what is going to happen.
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Man City’s remaining fixtures
May 6: Leeds United (H) – Premier League, kick-off 5 pm
May 9: Real Madrid (A) – Champions League 10 pm
May 13: Everton (A) – Premier League, kick-off 5 pm
May 17: Real Madrid (H) – Champions League 10 pm
May 21: Chelsea (H) – Premier League, kick-off 6 pm
May 24: Brighton (A) – Premier League, kick-off 10 pm
May 28: Brentford (A) – Premier League, kick-off 6.30 pm
June 3: Manchester United (N) – FA Cup final, kick-off 5 pm
