MANCHESTER (Reuters) – Erling Haaland scored for the 10th game in a row in all club competitions as Manchester City cruised to a 4-0 win at home to Southampton on Saturday to move to the top of the Premier League.
The Norwegian striker had endured a difficult afternoon by his usual prolific standards but eventually got on the scoresheet in the 65th minute to grab City’s fourth goal after first-half strikes from Joao Cancelo and Phil Foden plus a volley after the interval from Riyad Mahrez.
The victory took City to the top of the standings on 23 points from nine matches although Arsenal, on 21, can reclaim the lead if they beat Liverpool at home on Sunday.
Southampton, meanwhile, were left 16th on seven points after falling to their fourth consecutive league defeat, piling more pressure on manager Ralph Hasenhuettl.
Haaland went into the game in ruthless form after hitting a hat-trick in last week’s 6-3 drubbing of Manchester United and scoring a double in the 5-0 win over Copenhagen in the Champions League.
However, luck evaded him when he narrowly failed to open the scoring in the first half, smashing a shot off the inside of the far post and watching the ball trickle out of the goal.
Haaland later scuffed a shot wide and mistimed a header in the second half, but he was not to be denied, firing a first-time shot into the net after a cut-back from Cancelo to score his 15th league goal of the season and his 20th overall.
Portugal full back Cancelo was City’s most active player in the early stages of the game and after seeing several of his crosses come to nothing he took matters into his own hands, rifling a low shot into the net to give the champions the lead in the 20th minute.
Foden doubled their advantage later in the first half with a delightful chip, the England midfielder scoring for the fourth time in two league games after, like Haaland, netting three times in the derby win over United.
Mahrez volleyed in a chipped pass from Rodri to get the third goal early in the second half as City continued to toy with Southampton.
Haaland was in danger of drawing a blank for the first time for City since the 4-0 win over Bournemouth on Aug. 15 but kept his remarkable goal streak going and is now four games away from equalling Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy’s record of scoring in 11 consecutive Premier League matches, dating back to 2015.
(Reporting by Richard Martin; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Christian Radnedge)
