Erling Haaland’s sixth Premier League hat-trick, completed in the opening 45 minutes and featuring two penalties, signalled the goalscoring phenomenon is back in ruthless mood at the very best of times for Manchester City.
After this crushing victory, in which Haaland added a peach of a fourth after the interval, City can do what Arsenal have been doing to them: pile the pressure on in this tightest of title races by winning at Fulham next Saturday, move ahead two points and make the Gunners think before kicking-off at Manchester United 24 hours later.
Lose to Erik ten Hag’s unpredictable team and City can break the hearts of Arsenal for a second successive term, and be crowned champions of England for a historic fourth year in a row, if Tottenham are defeated two days later.
For a definition of a must-win match Pep Guardiola could field the Kevin De Bruyne-Haaland axis in the competition for the eighth time this term. With Ederson, like Haaland, also reinstated, in goal, the guile of Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden on the flanks, Josko Gvardiol’s flair at left-back, Kyle Walker’s speed to the right of the central defensive pair of Manuel Akanji and Nathan Aké, plus Rodri and Mateo Kovacic patrolling midfield, this was a formidable unit that steamrollered Wolves.
City thudded the ball about imperiously, and a penalty was claimed. Silva crossed for Gvardiol and as the Croat pulled the trigger Rayan Aït-Nouri clambered into him and Craig Pawson pointed to the spot. Soft, sure, but Haaland cared zero, his finish beating José Sá, who dived left, to the keeper’s right.
Guardiola offered a fist-clench in the direction of the posh seats and City cruised 12 minutes in and, already, Wolves were cowed. In a blue blur, the next attacks ended in De Bruyne stabbing wide, Haaland’s header forcing Sá to dive to save and a Max Kilman low-block denying Foden.
City’s tempo was high, their rhythm relentless. Great news for their championship defence, ill-tidings for Arsenal. What they – and Wolves – hoped was that the hosts might lose concentration, as when Kovacic was pickpocketed near halfway, but Silva, racing back to aid his colleagues, was an emblem of City’s mindset.
Better, for Wolves, was the cross, from the right, Hwang Hee-chan nearly connected with and the one the same player pinged in from the left: heartening for Gary O’Neil, who watched from the stands because of a touchline ban.
Optimism for the visiting manager soon drained. De Bruyne flicked to Rodri, whose scoop to the far post was as precise as the Haaland header powered beyond Sá and inside Wolves’ left post. Premier League strike No 23 for the striker and a first with his head since October’s 3-0 derby victory over United.
Haaland’s half ended in the two-penalty hat-trick. This time a burst of speed took him into the area, Nélson Semedo hooked his left foot on to the Norwegian’s right, down he went and, after refusing the spot-kick, Pawson changed his mind on review of the pitchside screen. Again, the penalty went to Sá’s right and though he guessed correctly this time again he could not stop it.
City’s second-half task was to keep on keeping on, as Guardiola demands. They did. Rodri rolled the ball to the quiet Foden whose effort was half-hit and no problem for Sá.
What occurred next was a problem for Ederson, as Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, introduced for the period, curved the ball over from the right to the far post and Hwang finished.
Guardiola’s fury at this evaporated seconds later. Ederson found Foden whose long diagonal was pulled down by Haaland. The touch was clumsy but after he moved the ball on to his left foot, a thunderbolt beat Sá high and into the corner. The grin he greeted this with was boyish and spoke of a pure joy at scoring, his insistence on congratulating Foden kind-spirited.
Haaland was back in the mode of last season’s 52-goal campaign. The right-foot laser he fired next burned Sá’s fingertips as the under-siege Portuguese somehow denied the greedy Haaland a fifth.
Soon after, the TV picture cut to O’Neil relaying instructions down a microphone, presumably to a coach on the bench. Beyond asking for the surreptitious fielding of a 12th man, what he could do to pull his team from the fire was a puzzle.
Julián Álvarez, on for Haaland, rolled home to seal a significant win and end an epistle of intent that cannot be ignored in north London’s red zone.
