He scored twice in the 3-1 win over Bournemouth
\n MANCHESTER
\nErling Haaland scored twice to propel Manchester City up to second in the Premier League with a 3-1 win over Bournemouth on Sunday. The Cherries started the day in second thanks to the longest unbeaten run in the English top flight.
\nBut Andoni Iraola\u2019s side were undone by the scintillating form of the Norwegian striker, who took his tally to 13 Premier League goals in 10 games. Haaland\u2019s relentless streak is maintaining City\u2019s title challenge as they reduced the gap to leaders Arsenal back to six points and edged one point ahead of Liverpool, who they face next weekend.
\n\u201cImportant win,\u201d said Haaland. \u201cIt\u2019s good to bounce back after losing a bad away game. It was nice. I tried to contribute for the team by doing my job and we won again.\u201d
\nDespite a first defeat in 10 games away to Aston Villa last weekend, Pep Guardiola remained confident his side can pose a threat to Arsenal come May.
\nThere were more encouraging signs for Guardiola as Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden shone in creative roles, while Nico O\u2019Riley became the first City player other than Haaland to score in the Premier League for over a month.
\n\u201cBournemouth are one of the most demanding teams that we have faced,\u201d said Guardiola. \u201cWe found our rhythm and today we were better in many aspects.\u201d Buoyed by their unbeaten streak since losing at Liverpool on the opening night of the season, Bournemouth started brightly.
\nHowever, their brave high line was exposed on 17 minutes when Cherki\u2019s header allowed Haaland to gallop clear from inside his own half to slam past Djordje Petrovic.
\nThe visitors levelled eight minutes later when Gianluigi Donnarumma claimed he was impeded as the Italian tried to collect a corner and Tyler Adams thrashed home the loose ball.
\nBut Haaland restored City\u2019s advantage before half-time by racing onto another Cherki pass in behind the Bournemouth defence to round Petrovic and slot home his 26th goal for club and country this season.
\nThe 25-year-old also became only the third player to ever score multiple goals in four consecutive Premier League home games after Luis Suarez and Robbie Fowler.
\nGuardiola has called for greater contributions from his other attacking players to lessen the goalscoring burden on his prolific number nine.
\nStill no City player other than Haaland has scored more than once in the league this season, but O\u2019Riley chipped in from full-back to seal the three points.
\nFoden was the creator this time as O\u2019Riley strode forward before arrowing a low shot into the far corner.
\nHaaland was denied the chance of a hat-trick as he was replaced by Omar Marmoush eight minutes from time with one eye on facing his former club Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Wednesday.
\n\u201cYou need to ask Pep for this,\u201d added Haaland. \u201cI think there are probably a few fantasy (football) managers that were not so happy when I got subbed off!\u201d
\nA double was enough to keep City still within range despite Arsenal\u2019s rampant run of nine consecutive wins and seven straight clean sheets in all competitions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
He scored twice in the 3-1 win over Bournemouth MANCHESTER Erling Haaland scored twice to propel Manchester City up to second in the Premier League with a 3-1 win over Bournemouth on Sunday. The Cherries started the day in second thanks to the longest unbeaten run in the English top flight. But Andoni Iraola\u2019s side […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-512416","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n