Erling Haaland equalled the Premier League record for goals in a 38-game season on Saturday as Manchester City closed the gap on leaders Arsenal to just three points after a day of drama in the top-four race.
The Norway forward netted twice in the first half of City’s 3-1 win over relegation-threatened Leicester to reach 32 goals — the same as Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah’s tally in 2017/18.
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John Stones opened the scoring at the Etihad before a goal from the penalty spot and a clever dinked finish from Haaland.
Guardiola substituted the 22-year-old at half-time, denying him the chance to hunt down the overall single-season record of 34 goals in the Premier League era — set in the days of 42 games per side.
Leicester, with Dean Smith in charge for the first time, pulled a goal back in the second half through Kelechi Iheanacho but they missed chances to put pressure on Pep Guardiola’s side and remain second from bottom of the table after a fourth straight defeat.
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VILLA REVIVAL CONTINUES AS STAR’S PURPLE PATCH CONTINUES
Earlier, Aston Villa put themselves in the mix for a top-four finish by beating Newcastle 3-0 for a fifth straight league win as Tottenham also lost.
Villa are still six points off the top four, but are in red-hot form after a seventh win in eight games.
Ollie Watkins, who has now scored 11 goals in 12 matches, netted twice after Jacob Ramsey had fired Unai Emery’s men into an early lead.
Emery, who took over at Villa Park in October, was cautious about his side’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League despite their impressive run.
“We can think about being a candidate for a Europa (League) position but the top four is very, very difficult,” said the Spaniard.
“Of course if we keep winning we can add for the next weeks, but not now.”
Newcastle had won their previous five games to climb to third, but barely laid a glove on Villa to leave Eddie Howe’s men looking over their shoulder.
The Newcastle boss said it was his side’s worst performance of the season.
“We weren’t ourselves, we didn’t represent ourselves in the way we can,” said Howe.
“That is the first time it’s happened in a long time. Today we were just a level off.”
SPURS BOSS DELIVERS BRUTAL HANDSHAKE SNUB AFTER SHOCK LOSS TO STRUGGLERS
With Manchester United not in action until Sunday, at Nottingham Forest, Tottenham had the chance to move into the top four but blew it as Bournemouth took a potentially decisive step towards survival.
Son Heung-min fired Spurs into an early lead, but the Cherries hit back with goals from Matias Vina and Dominic Solanke.
Substitute Arnaut Danjuma looked to have salvaged a point for Spurs when he scored against his old club two minutes from time but Dango Ouattara curled home in the 95th minute to lift Bournemouth six points clear of the relegation zone.
After the last-gasp dagger, Tottenham interim boss Cristian Stellini made a beeline for the tunnel and refused to shake his opposite number’s hand after the game, a move that Cherries boss Gary O’Neil branded as “poor.”
“When we were on the wrong end at our place, I shook the opposition manager’s hand,” O’Neil told BBC Sport.
“I was disappointed with them today. I thought to go straight down the tunnel and not shake hands was poor on their part.
“But it is what it is.”
ELSEWHERE AROUND THE GROUNDS
Brighton boosted their chances of European football with a 2-1 win at Chelsea to prolong Frank Lampard’s wait for a first victory since returning to Stamford Bridge as interim manager.
Conor Gallagher opened the scoring but Brighton were utterly dominant from then on and should have had more than a one-goal margin of victory to show for their 26 shots on goal.
Danny Welbeck came off the bench to score the equaliser just before half-time and Paraguayan teenager Julio Enciso won the game in spectacular style with a thunderbolt into the top corner 21 minutes from time.
Crystal Palace and Wolves edged towards safety but it was a terrible day for Everton, who lost 3-1 at home to Fulham.
Bottom side Southampton look increasingly likely to be relegated after Eberechi Eze scored twice for Palace in a 2-0 win at St Mary’s to clinch a third consecutive victory for the Eagles since Roy Hodgson returned as manager.
Wolves are seven points clear of the drop zone after they beat Brentford 2-0 thanks to goals from Diego Costa and Hwang Hee-chan.
Everton remain outside the relegation zone only on goal difference after goals from Fulham’s Harrison Reed, Harry Wilson and Dan James.
FULL RESULTS
Aston Villa 3-0 Newcastle
Southampton 0-2 Crystal Palace
Everton 1-3 Fulham
Wolves 2-0 Brentford
Chelsea 1-2 Brighton
Tottenham Hotspur 2-3 Bournemouth
Manchester City 3-1 Leicester City