Erling Haaland has scored more than one goal per game for Manchester City, surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo on the Premier League’s all-time scoring list.
His latest victim was at West Ham on Saturday.
The Norwegian striker scored in each half to reach 19 goals in 17 games this season, setting up Tijani Lijnders’ goal in Saturday’s 3-0 win at the Etihad Stadium.
The win moves City into the top of the table, one point ahead of Arsenal ahead of their tie against Everton later on Saturday.
Liverpool won 2-1 against nine-a-side Tottenham, but were without Alexander Isak, who injured his left ankle while scoring the opening goal.
Chelsea came from two points behind to draw 2-2 with Newcastle.
Haaland surpasses Ronaldo
Haaland is in what is shaping up to be the most prolific season of his career, scoring 38 goals in 28 games for club and country. If injury permits, the season will end with Norway playing in his first World Cup.
The double took his total Premier League points tally to 104, one more game than Ronaldo, who played two games for Manchester United, and played 122 fewer games.
Haaland’s second shot from Phil Foden’s cross gave City the lead in the fifth minute, and they took advantage of West Ham’s defensive confusion to make it 3-0 in the 69th minute.
In between, Haaland played a short pass to Lijnders, who received a touch and fired a shot into the roof of the net in the 38th minute.
Isaac is injured
Isaac can’t catch a break at Liverpool.
The Swedish striker joined Liverpool after training almost alone in the off-season and struggled in his first few months as English football’s record holder. He was then recently sidelined with a groin injury.
Isak, who came on as a substitute against Tottenham, scored within 11 minutes, but as he was finishing he injured his left ankle in a challenge from Tottenham’s Micky van de Ven and had to be helped off the field.
Tottenham were already down to 10 men by then, after Xavi Simmons received a red card for a stud-up foul on Virgil van Dijk, and Hugo Ekitike headed home to extend Liverpool’s lead to two points.
Richarlison reduced Spurs’ lead in the 83rd minute and also had time to become the second home player to be sent off after Cristian Romero was sent off against Ibrahima Konate.
Liverpool moved up to fifth place.
A week at Walte Maid
For Nick Woltemade, it’s been a week of big changes.
Last weekend, he scored an own goal to lead Newcastle to a derby defeat against rivals Sunderland. Six days later, he scored two goals in the opening 20 minutes to give his team a fast start against Chelsea.
However, Chelsea bounced back and Joao Pedro scored the equalizer from a rare assist from the goalkeeper to tie the game at 2-2.
Roberto Sanchez hit a long clearance to Pedro, who headed the ball forward and Fabian Schaal slipped before eventually recovering the ball himself. In the 66th, Pedro scored a goal under Newcastle goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale to give Chelsea a point.
“I wanted to perform well today, and I think I did that,” said Waltemaid. “I would like to say thank you to all my fans for being friends with me even now.”
Reece James started Chelsea’s fightback by hitting the post with a free-kick after half-time.
Chelsea remain in fourth place, having won just one of their last five league games. Newcastle, one of the English teams competing in this season’s Champions League, are languishing in mid-table with just one win in their last four games, which came in their penultimate match against Burnley.
I can’t win yet
Wolverhampton, who are bottom of the table, lost 2-0 at home to Brentford, leaving them without a win and only two points.
With this defeat, Wolves equaled Sheffield United’s Premier League record of 17 games without a win since the start of the 2020/21 season, and have now lost 10 consecutive league games, extending their club record.
Keane Lewis-Potter scored Brentford’s two goals in the second half.
The value of semenyo
Bournemouth winger Antoine Semenyo is reportedly a target of Premier League powerhouses including Man City and Manchester United.
He underlined his value by scoring his team’s goal in the 1-1 draw with Burnley. Burnley made a tough return to the top flight, ending a seven-game losing streak. Armando Broja equalized for Burnley in the 90th minute.
Sunderland have improved a lot since promotion. A 0-0 draw with Brighton left the North East side in 6th place.
remaining games
There are two more games on Saturday, Everton vs Arsenal and Leeds vs Crystal Palace.
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Steve Douglas is https://twitter.com/sdouglas80
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AP Soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
