Haaland, landmark goals for Kane; Manchester City top of the Premier League | football news
Erling Haaland’s goals propel Manchester City towards a treble of trophies. Meanwhile, Harry Kane seems powerless to stop Tottenham’s slide. Two of English football’s most prolific strikers both scored landmark goals on Sunday.
But Haaland’s 50th goal in all competitions this season helped City top the table, Kane’s 208th Premier League goal could not prevent Spurs suffering a third defeat in four games, albeit in the most dramatic fashion 4-3 loss to Liverpool,
Kane is now tied with Wayne Rooney as the Premier League’s second highest scorer of all time, behind only Alan Shearer on 260.
Trophies, however, eluded Kane, even in a season when he became the all-time record goalscorer for England and Tottenham.
It is a different story for Haaland, who seems destined to end his first year at City with both silverware and individual honours.
Penalty in the third minute for Norway City win 2-1 at Fulham saw him score his 34th Premier League goal of the season to equal the record jointly held by Shearer and Andy Cole. While his totals were up in a 42-game season, Haaland’s goals have come in a 38-game campaign in which the Norwegian still has six more matches to set a new benchmark in the top flight of English football.
Importantly, they are taking Lakshya City closer to the title.
Haaland opened the scoring from the spot at Craven Cottage, before Carlos Vinicius equalized for Fulham in the 15th. Julián Alvarez scored the winner in the 36th as the defending champions stayed one point ahead of long-time leaders Arsenal with a game in hand.
City manager Pep Guardiola said, “Congratulations to Erling, but the best goals (are) going to help us achieve our goals this season.”
Had Guardiola been successful in pursuing Kane in the summer of 2021, the Tottenham striker would have already ended his quest for the first major trophy of his career.
Instead, Haaland is the man in charge of City’s attack and leading them towards titles, the Champions League and the FA Cup.
Kane has scored 28 goals this season, despite Tottenham being unsuccessful in recent months, with only two wins in their last 11 games.
He scored his 25th league goal to stage an unlikely comeback against Liverpool after Spurs were 3–0 down inside 15 minutes at Anfield.
Richardson headed an equalizer to make it 3–3 in stoppage time, only for Diogo Jota to score the winner almost immediately afterwards.
It left Kane up front to explain the latest setback after last week’s embarrassing 6-1 defeat to Newcastle.
“It was a terrible start in the first 20 minutes, it’s not the first time this season. We need to understand the big games better,” Kane said. “The table is not a lie, where we do not lie. We have some great players and some moments, but as a team we are not playing well collectively.
Kane is out of contract at the end of next season, with speculation rising about his future.
“I live in the present, I live to give 110% everywhere I go,” he said.
champions league calling
Bruno Fernandes scored the winner which took Manchester United a step closer to Champions League qualification.
The Portugal international sealed the 39th spot 1-0 win against Aston Villa at Old Trafford That leaves fourth-placed United seven points behind Liverpool with a game in hand.
Having already won the League Cup, United also secured an FA Cup final clash against Manchester City in June.
“It’s really important for us to finish in the top four and then we have to think about winning trophies, so we have to find the energy and aim for the top four and the FA Cup,” Fernandez said.
Klopp Suffers Injury
As Jota hit a late winner in Liverpool’s win against Tottenham, Jurgen Klopp couldn’t keep himself on edge.
But the German coach was forced to celebrate when he appeared to pull his hamstring while celebrating the goal.
Klopp held on to the back of his foot and staggered as the rest of Anfield erupted.
“I’m not sure it’s the hamstring. It could also be an adductor. It’s painful,” Klopp said.
Curtis Jones, Luiz Diaz and Mohamed Salah all scored for Liverpool in the space of 15 minutes, but Kane and Son Heung-min set up a dramatic finish.
Richardson equalized in stoppage time before Jota’s winner.
A fourth straight win moved Liverpool into fifth place in the table and in position for Europa League qualification.
Leeds is sinking
Leeds’ hopes of avoiding relegation suffer another blow 4-1 loss to Bournemouth,
The Yorkshire club are just one point above the bottom three, having played a game more than 18th-place Leicester and 19th-place Everton, who meet on Monday.
Jefferson Lerma scored twice for Bournemouth, with Dominic Solanki and Antoine Semenio scoring the other goals. Patrick Bamford pulls one back for Leeds.
The win keeps Bournemouth on 39 points, which is likely to be enough to secure Premier League survival.
Bournemouth manager Gary O’Neill said, “I am confident that the three points today achieve our goal of staying in the Premier League.” Now we can set more targets for the next four matches.
Newcastle Fightback
When Stuart Armstrong put table-toppers Southampton ahead against Newcastle, it looked like another potential turning point in the battle for survival.
But two goals from Callum Wilson and an own-goal from Theo Walcott secured a 3–1 win for Champions League-chasing Newcastle, ending any chance of an improbable victory for the Saints.
