Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne Break Records As Man City Trash Southampton And Put Pressure On Arsenal.

Manchester City closed the gap to within five points of Premier League leaders Arsenal with a comfortable 4-1 win at Southampton on Saturday evening.

After missing out of action in the 4-1 hammering of Liverpool at Etihad last weekend due to injury, Erling Haaland returned to hit a brace equalling another Premier League record in the process.

The Saints had frustrated Pep Guardiola’s reigning champions for long in the encounter in what seems a tight first half at the St. Mary's stadium, but were undone on the stroke of stoppage time when Haaland nodded home courtesy of Kevin De Bruyne’s cross.

In laying on Haaland's first goal and 43rd of the season across all competitions, De Bruyne became the fifth player ever to reach 100 Premier League assists and the Belgian did so the fastest of them all, in the fewest number of games (237).

The second-placed fastest player to complete the feat, Cesc Fabregas, took 298 matches to get to 100 assists.

De Bruyne would go on to grab another assist after the break when he set up Jack Grealish who continued his fine form of late by firing in a rebound on 58 minutes after the Saints goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu had saved his initial effort.

The visitors moved up the gear when Grealish then turned provider for Haaland who grabbed his second of the evening with an acrobatic overhead kick, volleying home his 30th Premier League goal of the season.

His 30 league goals is a higher number than eight teams in the division (Chelsea, Wolves, West Ham, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, Everton, Nottingham Forest and Southampton). He now has 44 goals in 38 games since joining City from Borussia Dortmund last summer.

The 22-year-old’s total goal tally this season has already seen him draw level with Mohamed Salah and Ruud van Nistelrooy for the most goals scored for a Premier League club in a single campaign in all competitions.

Substitute Sekou Mara scored his first Southampton goal with a sidefooted finish after fine work from fellow substitute Moussa Djenepo on 72 minutes to reduce the deficit to 3-1.

Haaland was further withdrawn for the final 21 minutes, as Pep Guardiola denied him the chance to bang in his seventh hat-trick in City colours.

His replacement, the Argentine world cup winner Julian Alvarez, came off the bench to put the seal on victory with a composed penalty kick 15 minutes from time after Kevin De Bruyne was fouled by Kyle Walker-Peters in the box.

Alvarez goal restored City's three goal lead with the game ending in a 4-1 victory over a struggling Ruben Selles Southampton side.

Relegation threatened Southampton remain rooted to the foot of the table, four points adrift of 17th-placed Everton with eight matches to play.

The win for Man City means they now cut Arsenal’s lead at the top to five points having played the same number of games putting the pressure once again on Mikel Arteta's men.

The Gunners face a tough trip to Liverpool in the late kick-off on Sunday, knowing that they will need to win to keep the momentum off City for at least another week.

Arsenal would have to do that by winning in a ground at Anfield where they haven't won a league game since 2012, in order to re-establish an eight-point lead at the top of the table.

 

City will now turn their attention to the heavyweight Champions League quarter-final first leg game with Bayern Munich on Tuesday night.

Southampton on the other hand, must try to bounce back at home to Crystal Palace next Saturday.