Erling Haaland kept his distance – Newspaper Kommersant No. 244 (7445) of 12/30/2022
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In the final match of the 17th round of the English Premier League (EPL), Manchester City, thanks to a double from the Norwegian striker Erling Haaland, achieved a 3-1 victory over Leeds on the road. This result allowed the reigning champions of England to maintain a five-point gap from the current leader – London’s Arsenal, which had previously beaten West Ham at home with exactly the same score.
The first major European football championship, which resumed after a pause for the world championship, was English. Most of the matches of the 17th round of the Premier League took place there on Monday, the day after Christmas according to the Gregorian calendar. The leader, Arsenal, that day beat West Ham 3:1 at home.
The closest pursuer of the Londoners, Manchester City, on Wednesday evening, was to have a guest meeting also with the club from the bottom half of the standings – Leeds.
For the top scorer of the championship, Erling Haaland, this trip was special. The fact is that Leeds is his hometown. Haaland was born there in 2000, since his father, defender Alf-Inge Haaland, once played for Leeds, from which, by the way, he moved to Manchester City.
It is unlikely, however, that this circumstance seriously affected the quality of the game, which was demonstrated by the Norwegian forward, greedy for big football, whose team did not make it to Qatar. Haaland was in the most fighting mood, although he did not celebrate both of his goals against Leeds, wanting to demonstrate his respect for the club for which his father played.
By the time the Norwegian scored his first goal, the score was already open. This was done at the very end of the first half by Rodrigo Hernandez, the Spanish midfielder of Manchester City, who successfully set his foot after the French goalkeeper of Leeds, Ilan Meslier, repelled the blow of the French striker Riyad Mahrez. This, of course, was not surprising, since the advantage of Manchester City by that time was very significant. The same Haaland before the break could score at least twice. But when, six minutes after the break, Jack Grealish broke into the penalty area from the center of the field and rolled the ball to his partner, who remained almost in front of an empty net, it was already impossible to miss. Grealish also had a direct bearing on Manchester City’s third goal. It was he who played the wall with Holann, after which he scored a double.
Already after Leeds, thanks to the efforts of the Dutchman Pascal Strake, who turned out to be the most efficient at the corner, retook one goal, Haaland could have scored a third time. However, Meslier prevented, showing a good reaction. Nevertheless, the Norwegian still managed to rewrite one of the Premier League records. He was the first in its history to score 20 goals, playing only 14 matches. Prior to this, the best indicator – 20 goals in 21 meetings – had the Englishman Kevin Phillips, who in the 1999/2000 season started very cheerfully at Sunderland. Other statistics are also interesting. In 20 official matches for Guardiola, Haaland scored 26 goals, while Lionel Messi, in his time at Barcelona, took 28 matches to score 25 goals.
Thus, after the resumption of the championship, the situation in the fight for gold, which, as it is now obvious, will be led by Arsenal and Manchester City, has not changed at all.
Pep Guardiola’s two defeats away in October against Liverpool and at home in November against Brentford came as a big surprise, so far the Londoners maintain a fairly comfortable lead of five points. True, a few hours before the new year, the situation may change slightly. On Saturday, Arsenal will face seventh-placed Brighton, whom they lost at home in the League Cup in November, while Manchester City will play at home with the failing current season, Everton. And in the first round of January, Arsenal will play at home with Newcastle, which is still third, however, Manchester City on the road against Chelsea will also have a difficult time.
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