The hat-trick man is back – if he was ever away. Erling Haaland’s fourth Premier League treble swept him to 25 competition goals, 31 in all, and may signal Manchester City are again the slick winning machine Pep Guardiola wants them to be.
The victory took the champions to two points behind Arsenal before Manchester United’s arrival for Sunday afternoon’s late match. Haaland, as he does, made scoring appear child’s play – his goals all came in a 17-minute exhibition – and so Guardiola, for today at least, was pleased with the response to the scattergun call to arms that came after Thursday’s victory over Tottenham.
