Manchester City on Saturday registered their fourth consecutive win in the Premier League against Fulham. The Cityzens kept their all-win record in PL 2023-24 with Erling Haaland starring for the club with a dazzling second-half hattrick and providing an assist to Julian Alvarez.
The newly-crowned UEFA Player of the Year decided to show up with his scoring boots on and started the game confidently. Haaland helped City break the deadlock in the game with a fine assist to Argentine Alvarez. The Norwegian wasn’t very effective in the rest of the first-half. City went ahead in the brink of half-time when Nathan Ake scored a controversial goal to put City ahead again after Fulham’s equaliser.
Erling Haaland Magic
Halaand joined the party in the second half when Alvarez decided to return the favour with a one touch pass to the striker. Haaland placed the ball calmly in the net with his left feet. The game drifted away from Fulham after the third goal, with Haaland finding more spaces with the ball.
The striker converted a penalty in the 70th minute. Almost all the fans were gunning for the Norwegian to score the hattrick and it came deep into stoppage time.
Erling Haaland record
Haaland on Saturday became the fastest player to reach to reach 50 goals and assists in the Premier League. The record was previously held by Andrew Cole in 43 games. The Norway international achieved the feat in just 39 appearances.
The social media was quick to react to the feat, hailing the striker. Here are some reactions:
Nathan Ake Goal Controversy
A controversial moment of the match came in the added time of the first half when Man City defender Nathan Ake scored from a corner of Phil Foden. While the corner and Ake’s header were clean, confusion arose when another defender Manuel Akanji stood in an offside position between the ball and goalkeeper. The Fulham team protested vehemently claiming Akanji was in the line of vision of the Fulham goalkeeper but the VAR ruled out any interference and awarded the goal.