Brentford 0-1 Manchester City: Erling Haaland continues his amazing goalscoring form as his early strike is the difference in tight contests in West London
Erling Haaland’s goal was enough to ensure Manchester City beat Brentford and remained in the Premier League title race.
Haaland would have been 2-0 without the great response from Caoimhin Kelleher to blow up the city ahead after getting into a Brentford box and deny Tijani Reyjner.
Brentford, who dominated the first half, may have been able to level up early in the second term, but Igor Thiago ruined a one-on-one opportunity with Gianluigi Donnaruma. City sat deep and defended, repelling the slow pressure from the platform side, but looked relatively inconvenient.
The three-point moves the city to fifth in the Premier League, but those are three-point drifts of leaders where Arsenal enters an international break. This is the topic of conversation.
read more: Devastated Rodri gets hit by injuries when Man City hands him a big worryread more: Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool will be playing next five games as the Premier League title race gets a new twist
1. Haaland shows his strength
Haaland enjoys one of the periods when he appears to score every time he sees a goal. His early strike here means he scored in 22 of the 23 stadiums he played in the Premier League, a top proportion in Premier League history, 96%. Anfield is the only stadium he hasn’t notched yet.
His goal felt like a throwback, and Josco Gvaldior placed the ball behind Brentford’s defense and asked Haaland if he could make anything. And his strength turned a simple pass into goal as he bullied Sepp van den Berg and blows up the ball past Kelleher at a nearby post.
He scored 18 times in 11 club and country games this season, and failed to find a net back in one match. Haaland’s goal is the closest to what’s certain right now in the Premier League.
2. Rodri’s injury
The expression on his face told the story. Rodri went down the first half and knew something was wrong. City walked down the tunnel off the pitch with a pessimistic look on his face, causing City to involve Nico Gonzalez.
Rodri missed most of last season with an ACL injury, making it a big mistake for Pep Guardiola, who won the Baron de Orrée last season. The ability and passing of the Spanish midfielder’s ball-winning ability and pass are important to Guardiola’s plan, and if he is once again on the sidelines again for quite some time, it will hit their ambitions for 2025/26.
3. Long throw to stay here
Brentford is the master of long throws and as a former set piece coach, Keith Andrews knows quite a bit about them. The Bees have been the most successful Premier League club in tactics over the past few seasons, working with throw-in coach Thomas Gronemark.
Michael Kayode is able to fire the perfect combination with his slow flats, fur, giving Brentford a real weapon. But they were extraordinarily sloppy with set pieces against the city, and they never had a hard time protecting them.
4. Lack of city depth
Guardiola spins his side for a trip to West London, bringing Jeremy Doc to rest, while Oscar Bob and Savigno begin to get their wings with their wings. Bobb showed some bright touches and produced some stunning skills that wiggled through the penalty area in the first half, but Savinho was extremely quiet on the other side.
Savinho was on the market in the summer, but he ended up staying and slowly began the season, not returning seven goals and assists so far.
5. A rough town
This was far from classics, but the match was certainly a potential banana skin for the city. Brentford beat Manchester United 3-1 at home last weekend, and his direct playing style has brought many questions to his opponents, making it difficult to meet face-to-face.
We’ve seen Guardiola adjust his tactics this season and park the bus at Arsenal to get points. This opportunity worked, and the city is now only 3 points from the top spot.
Join the new WhatsApp community and receive a daily amount of mirror football content. We also treat community members with special offers, promotions and advertising. If you don’t like our community, you can always check out. If you are interested, you can read the privacy notice.
Sky Sports Discount Premier League and EFL Packages
£49
£35
Sky
Get the deal here
Sky has significantly reduced the prices of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundles ahead of the 2025/26 season, saving its members to £336, and offering over 1,400 live matches in the Premier League, EFL and more.
Sky will show at least 215 live Premier League matches next season, showing an even greater increase of up to 100.
