Erling Haaland scored 4 instances as Manchester Metropolis maintained the strain on Premier League leaders Arsenal with a 5-1 thrashing of Wolves.
Arsenal’s 3-0 defeat of Bournemouth earlier within the day meant Metropolis needed to reply within the night kick-off they usually did so in type, a dominant efficiency proving far an excessive amount of for Gary O’Neil’s mid-table facet.
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Haaland opened the scoring within the Twelfth-minute with a contentious penalty after which doubled Metropolis’s lead with a towering header. One other Haaland penalty in first-half stoppage time successfully ended the sport as a contest and, regardless that Hwang Hee-chan pulled one again eight minutes after the restart, Haaland replied nearly instantly.
Substitute Julian Alvarez got here on for Haaland after 82 minutes and made a direct influence to spherical off a beautiful efficiency from the defending champions.
The end result means Metropolis finish the day as they began it, a degree behind Arsenal however with a recreation in hand.
Pep Guardiola’s males began rapidly, their excessive press maintaining Wolves pinned inside their very own half.
Repeatedly, the guests tried to play out solely to come back unstuck and lose possession.
It appeared solely a matter of time earlier than Metropolis would rating and the one shock was that the opener didn’t come till the Twelfth minute. It wasn’t with out controversy, although. Bernardo Silva’s cross to the far publish picked out Josko Gvardiol who was caught by Rayan Ait-Nouri within the act of capturing.
Referee Craig Pawson pointed to the spot and Haaland made no mistake.
An excellent save from Jose Sa denied Haaland a quick-fire second however there was nothing the Wolves goalkeeper may do to maintain out an excellent header from the Norway worldwide after he’d been picked out by the wonderful Rodri.
FULL-TIME | 5-star Metropolis! 🌟
🩵 5-1 🐺 #ManCity | @okx pic.twitter.com/gS5YmeAzKi
— Manchester Metropolis (@ManCity) Could 4, 2024
It was 3-0 earlier than half-time. Haaland raced away from the Wolves defence and was clipped by Nelson Semedo. This time Pawson waved away the appeals however VAR intervened after replays confirmed there was contact on the massive striker.
Haaland once more went to Sa’s proper and once more discovered the again of the web to finish the twenty first hat-trick of his senior profession.
Hwang prodded dwelling after 53 minutes following some sloppy goalkeeping from Ederson but it surely merely provoked Metropolis, who responded inside a minute, Phil Foden lifting a ball excessive for Haaland to run on to, minimize inside his marker and fireplace a left-footed shot into the nook.
It had been a chastening afternoon for Wolves and there was nonetheless time for it to worsen as Rodri burst by means of, picked out Alvarez and the Argentine World Cup winner coolly completed previous Sa.
