On 70 minutes the inevitable occurred: Erling Haaland stampeded forward, took Jack Grealish’s delivery and, with Lukasz Fabianski advancing, the goalscoring phenomenon feathered a spiralling lob over West Ham’s goalkeeper for a record Premier League goal No 35.
It eclipsed the tallies of Alan Shearer and Andy Cole and, more vitally, doubled Manchester City’s lead against a doughty West Ham and by the final whistle it was 3-0: Pep Guardiola’s blue machine were on top again with five matches remaining in the quest to emulate Manchester United and claim a hat-trick of titles.
