Erling Haaland marked his return from injury with two goals and Kevin De Bruyne became the quickest player to 100 assists in Premier League history as City beat Southampton 4-1 at St Mary’s on Saturday.
Erling Haaland hit a brace to take his tally for the season to 44 goals across all competitions and 30 in the Premier League goal of the season, as Manchester City cut the gap to Arsenal at the summit to five points with a 4-1 victory that deepens rock-bottom Southampton’s relegation fears.
Saints frustrated Pep Guardiola’s reigning champions for long in a tight first half, but were undone on the stroke of the interval when Haaland nodded home Kevin De Bruyne’s cross for the Belgian to become the fastest man to notch up 100 Premier League assists, Eurosport reports.
The visitors moved up a gear following the break and Jack Grealish continued his fine form of late by firing in a rebound on 58 minutes after Gavin Bazunu had saved his initial effort.
Haaland then grabbed his second of the evening with an acrobatic overhead kick before Saints substitute Sekou Mara reduced the arrears.
Julian Alvarez then came off the bench to put the seal on victory with a composed penalty 15 minutes from time.
The result means Man City cut Arsenal’s lead at the top to five points having played the same number of games, with The Gunners facing a tough trip to Liverpool on Sunday afternoon.
Southampton remain rooted to the foot of the table, four points adrift of 17th-placed Everton with eight matches to play.
City will now turn their attention to the heavyweight Champions League quarter-final first leg showdown with Bayern Munich on Tuesday night.
