Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne have been hailed as “beasts” rampaging towards a third-straight Premier League title for Manchester City.
League leaders Arsenal were overwhelmed by the deadly combination of Haaland and De Bruyne in Wednesday's ruthless 4-1 mauling at the Etihad. The dictionary definition of a beast is 'any non-human animal' and the remorseless manner of City's two best players was monstrous at times.
City team-mate Bernardo Silva used the term to describe the towering pair, whose understanding has put Pep Guardiola's side on course for a fifth title in six years.
“They were two beasts running with their movements,” said Silva. “Usually it's Kevin with the passes, Erling with the scoring, but this time it was the opposite.
“Knowing Arsenal would come man-to-man, we tried to stretch them as much as possible, to give the big men as much space as possible to run.
“Arsenal gave space for Kevin and Erling to run. When you give them this kind of space, they are so difficult to defend against. They did it perfectly, they created lots of chances, and we could have scored even more.”
Until the Arsenal rout, De Bruyne had been the provider this season, producing eight assists for Haaland in the Premier League. But the tables were turned against the Gunners, with Haaland playing the role of creator, with the assists for both of De Bruyne's goals.
Their 10-goal combination is the most by a City duo in the Premier League era, beating the total of eight between Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane in the 2018-19 season.
Asked if Haaland was now starting to pay him back with assists, De Bruyne smiled and said: “Maybe, but it just depends. It works both ways. He gave me a few at the beginning of the season and I didn’t really have my shooting boots on, but this time it worked well.
“Erling has been involved before, it just depends who you're playing against. There's more space in behind with Arsenal, as they go to man-to-man.
“That meant there were more opportunities for me to run into the space and get the ball. It was picking the right moments to go in behind and I think we really hurt them in that first-half and could have scored more.
“We had to play longer and we tried a couple of things in training. I tried to be deeper, then run off Erling and we found it a couple of times.”
Guardiola claimed all the credit for the partnership between Haaland and De Bruyne must go to the players, rather than him and his coaching staff. The City boss said the intuitive understanding between the pair is a natural phenomenon that cannot be coached or taught, but is merely instinctive.
“I didn’t teach how they find each other in training,” said Guardiola. “The game belongs to them. With footballers, more natural things can happen than you expect.
“All the time, when Kevin has the ball, Erling knows he can run and give it. The opposite side as well. It's happened many times. Kevin is a master of the assist, with or without Erling, and Erling scores goals all the time, with or without Kevin.
“But being together, when teams press so high and those balls are there with space in behind, they're so dangerous and we use it.”
