Haaland, City’s Nordic Terminator, is both scalpel and bludgeon at Emirates

Erling Haaland (centre) scores Manchester City’s third goal to make the game safe and cap a dominant performance. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

Here it is then: Total Erling. Wherever this current iteration of Manchester City may end up, this was a night when the texture of Pep Guardiola’s team seemed to shift decisively, to take on new forms and new shapes.

Erling Haaland came to the Emirates Stadium with 25 Premier League goals this season. He left with 26, and with a sense, too, of finding his own new gears, of leading City’s attack in every moment of the game rather than wandering around finishing its sentences.