Manchester City’s Erling Haaland scored his record-breaking 35th Premier League goal of a stupendous season to help secure a 3-0 victory against West Ham United that sent his side back to the top of the table on Wednesday.
The marauding Norwegian ended some stubborn West Ham resistance when he dinked a delicate chip into the net after 70 minutes to make him the highest scorer in a single Premier League season.
He also took his tally in all competitions for City in a mind-boggling debut season to 51 — roughly one for every million pounds City paid Borussia Dortmund for his signature.
“Incredible. He’s just 22 — and still has five games left,” City manager Pep Guardiola said. “We expected him to score goals but to break Cole and Shearer records… he’s special.”
Treble-chasing City, who began the night in second place after Arsenal’s defeat of Chelsea on Tuesday, had twice been denied by the woodwork as they were frustrated by relegation-threatened West Ham in the first half.
But Nathan Ake made the breakthrough five minutes after the interval with a header from a free kick.
Haaland then eased the tension around the Etihad Stadium as he glided on to Jack Grealish’s through ball to beat Lukasz Fabianski and move past the 34-goal mark he shared with Andy Cole and Alan Shearer with five games still to play.
Substitute Phil Foden then made it 3-0 with a superbly-struck volley in the 85th minute.
City, chasing a fifth title in six seasons under Pep Guardiola, have 79 points from 33 games with Arsenal on 78, having played a game more. They will move four clear if they beat Leeds United at home on Saturday.
West Ham remain in trouble in 15th place, four points above the relegation zone.
David Moyes’s side would have expected a siege and were not disappointed as they spent virtually the entire first half deep in their own half repelling wave after wave of City attacks.
City swarmed forward with Julian Alvarez and Riyad Mahrez forcing routine early saves by Fabianski and Haaland heading a Grealish cross over the bar at full stretch.
West Ham, hampered by the absence of midfielders Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek, defended valiantly with the colossal Angelo Ogbonna heading away cross after cross.
Arsenal fans might have started to believe the soccer Gods were smiling on them when Grealish’s snap shot hit the outside of the upright and minutes later Rodri’s guided shot hit the post and span agonisingly across the face of goal.
Guardiola was scratching his bald head as City failed to turn their 80% possession into a goal and the hosts had a scare when Jarrod Bowen surged into the area and forced Ederson into a sharp save after a rare West Ham forward foray.
OLD ROUTINE
West Ham finally cracked five minutes after the interval and it was a goal that would have infuriated Moyes.
Having resisted so well, they were undone by a simple old routine — a Mahrez free kick curled towards the far post and Dutch defender Ake rose unchallenged to head past Fabianski.
West Ham still looked capable of adding a twist to the title script until Grealish released Haaland for his milestone moment.
Foden then put the icing on his side’s ninth successive league win with the 1,000th goal in Guardiola’s City reign.
But the night belonged to Haaland who was given a guard of honour as he walked off with the cheers of City’s fans ringing in his ears and Dixie Dean’s record of 63 goals in a season in all competitions for Everton in 1927-28 surely within sight.
As well as five league games left, City are in the semi-finals of the Champions League and FA Cup final.
Salah spot kick gives Liverpool 1-0 win over Fulham
Mohamed Salah scored from the penalty spot to keep Liverpool’s slim hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League alive as they secured a 1-0 win over Fulham at Anfield in the Premier League on Wednesday.
The win lifts Liverpool to 59 points, four behind fourth-placed Manchester United, who have two games in hand over the Merseysiders, while Fulham are 10th on 45 points.
Fulham had the first decent chance of the game when Carlos Vinicius forced Alisson Becker into a save with a stinging shot that was turned behind for a corner in the 14th minute, but a moment of madness from Issa Diop saw them fall behind six minutes before the break.
The Fulham centre back looked to be in no danger as he allowed a pass to run across his body, but Darwin Nunez made the most of his indecisiveness to poke the ball away and the defender hacked him down, with the referee immediately pointing to the spot.
Salah stepped up and smashed the resulting spot kick straight down the middle to extend his streak of scoring in consecutive games at home to eight.
That gave the home side some breathing space, but despite having the likes of Salah, Nunez and Luis Diaz on the pitch, Liverpool struggled to get shots on target as keeper Bernd Leno came quickly off his line to repeatedly snuff out the danger.
Fulham had a superb chance to equalise when Vinicius broke through in the 77th minute but again Alisson thwarted him, using a strong right hand to deflect his close-range shot behind.
The visitors had one final chance deep into stoppage time as Daniel James picked out fellow substitute Bobby Decordova-Reid, but Virgil van Dijk was on hand to pressure the striker and he fired his effort wide as Liverpool held on for a fifth straight Premier League win.
“It’s always difficult to win games in the Premier League, five on the spin is very good,” Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson said.
Manager Juergen Klopp said he was impressed by his side’s fighting spirit, and that the season has become about building momentum for the next campaign.
“(That is) super important… we have to try to do something we can use, something we can build on in the next season. That’s exactly what we did and I’m pleased with that,” he added.