Erling Haaland on Sunday carried Manchester City to within three points of English Premier League leaders Arsenal with the only goal at Brentford, while Crystal Palace’s 19-game unbeaten run was ended by a 2-1 defeat to Everton.
The Norwegian maintained his sensational early-season form to score his 18th goal for club and country in just 11 appearances this season.
Haaland showed his strength to bully his way through the Brentford defense from Josko Gvardiol’s long ball and fire home on nine minutes.
Photo: AFP
Victory came at a cost for Pep Guardiola’s men as Rodri was forced off in his latest injury setback since returning from an anterior cruciate ligament tear that saw him miss most of last season.
Last year’s Ballon d’Or winner was in tears when he had to be replaced with an apparent hamstring problem midway through the first half.
Despite a less than sparkling performance, City held out to haul themselves up to fifth and right back into the title race.
Photo: Reuters
Palace missed the chance to go second after suffering a European hangover at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
The Eagles were dominant in the first 45 minutes, but were left to rue not adding to Daniel Munoz’s finish from Ismaila Sarr’s pass.
However, their UEFA Conference League exertions in winning away to Dynamo Kyiv on Thursday last week took their toll in the second half.
Iliman Ndiaye equalized from the penalty spot after Maxence Lacroix clumsily upended Beto as Everton fought back to avoid a first defeat at their new home.
Jack Grealish then got fortunate for his first Everton goal as Munoz’s attempted clearance rebounded off the Manchester City loanee into the roof of the net.
“I thought Crystal Palace should have been out of sight, they should have been 3-0 up, but we stuck at it,” Everton head coach David Moyes said.
Ange Postecoglou’s wait for a first win as Nottingham Forest head coach goes on after a 2-0 defeat at Newcastle United.
The Australian is the first Forest boss in more than 100 years to fail to win in his first seven games and now faces an anxious wait to see if club owner Evangelos Marinakis decides to make another change over the international break.
“I knew it was a big challenge walking in. That’s what it is and there’s nothing wrong with that,” Postecoglou said.
Newcastle had only won one of their opening six Premier League matches, but Bruno Guimaraes led the Magpies to victory with a brilliant strike from outside the penalty area to break the deadlock on 58 minutes.
Guimaraes then won a penalty after robbing former teammate Elliot Anderson inside the Forest penalty area.
Nick Woltemade smashed the resulting spot-kick into the top corner for his fourth Newcastle goal since joining from VfB Stuttgart last month.
Forest slip to 17th, the same league position that saw Postecoglou sacked by Tottenham Hotspur at the end of last season despite winning the UEFA Europa League.
After a slow start to the season, Aston Villa beat Burnley 2-1 to secure a fourth win in the past 11 days.
Donyell Malen was the Villa match-winner with his first goals since April.
The Dutch forward opened the scoring after racing onto Boubacar Kamara’s brilliant through-ball to slot into the far corner.
Morgan Rogers was the creator for the second that Malen controlled before drilling confidently into the far corner.
Lesley Ugochukwu pulled a goal back, but Burnley remain in the relegation zone.
Wolverhampton Wanderers are still rooted to the foot of the table after conceding a late equalizer to draw 1-1 at home to Brighton & Hove Albion.
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