Man City 3-0 Wolves (Haaland 40′, pen 50′, 54′)
ETIHAD STADIUM — Erling Haaland’s 14-minute hat-trick was the perfect response to Pep Guardiola’s midweek meltdown as Manchester City retained their interest in the Premier League title race with an ultimately comfortable win.
It was the fourth hat-trick of Haaland’s sensational debut season in English football as he reached 25 league goals – a tally that would have won him the Golden Boot in each of the past four seasons.
City legend Sergio Aguero holds the record for the most hat-tricks in Premier League history, with 12. But it is a sobering thought for City’s rivals that Haaland has reached a third of that total already, just halfway through his first season.
More importantly, from a City point of view, the win also looked more like the sort of performance their demanding manager has been looking for of late.
With the crowd, who were also criticised by Guardiola in midweek, also responding, City dominated, without troubling keeper Jose Sa unduly, but finally broke Wolves’ resilience five minutes before the interval.
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It was the first time the two City stars had connected for a league goal since the derby thrashing of United in October and was a sign that Haaland was returning to the sort of lethal form he showed through the autumn.
His second was less spectacular, coming from the penalty spot three minutes after the restart, but was just as important as it removed any danger of a Wolves comeback.
Ruben Neves had little complaint when he was judged to have brought down Ilkay Gundogan in the Wolves area and Haaland finished clinically from the spot.
Player ratings
Manchester City (4-3-3): Ederson 6; Lewis 6 (Ake 45, 6), Akanji 7, Stones 6, Laporte 6; De Bruyne 8 (Silva 76, 6), Rodri 7 (Phillips 76, 6), Gundogan 6; Mahrez 7 (Palmer 80, 6), Haaland 9 (Alvarez 60, 6), Grealish 7. Substitutes (not used) Ortega, Walker, Dias, Cancelo.
Wolves (4-3-3): Sá 5; Semedo 5, Collins 7, Kilman 7, Bueno 5 (Ait-Nouri 81); Nunes 5, Neves 6, Lemina 5 (Podence 67, 7); Hee-chan 6 (Moutinho 45, 5), Jiménez 5 (Cunha 45, 5), Traoré 5 (Sarabia 45, 6). Substitutes (not used) Sarkic, Jonny, Toti, Costa.
Referee: D Coote 5
His hat-trick goal, just six minutes later, was an even easier finish but indicative of Haaland’s sense of being in the right place at the right time.
A disastrous clearance by Jose Sa fell directly to Riyad Mahrez who had the simple task of squaring the ball for Haaland to steer the ball into a virtually empty net from 10 yards.
It took the Norwegian onto 25 league goals for the season, 31 in all competitions, with virtually half the campaign still to play.
Indeed, his league tally is more than twice the 12 goals Wolves have managed all season and more than nine of the 20 Premier League clubs, including Chelsea, have scored so far this term.
And, collectively, the performance was the reaction Guardiola was looking for after he attacked his players’ complacency after their comeback victory over Tottenham in midweek.
Even after Haaland was brought off, with only an hour gone, the rout should have continued.
Mahrez had an effort ruled out for offside, his replacement Julian Alvarez was denied by Sa and Gundogan missed an easy, free header at the far post from a Bernardo Silva cross.
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