Key Highlights
- Haaland’s recent return now stands at a lone penalty in his last nine games, but this was not a day for City to lament that. For weeks, Pep Guardiola had cited Omar Marmoush’s absence at the African Cup of Nations as a reason he could not rest Haaland.
- When the Egyptian returned and the Norwegian took a turn on the bench, Marmoush scored: but as a left winger.
- “I see him more as a striker, not a proper winger,” said Guardiola, who remains a contrarian, even if Haaland remains the only out-and-out centre-forward in the City squad. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBut not, arguably, the only specialist scorer.
- Only Haaland and Brentford’s Igor Thiago have more Premier League goals than Antoine Semenyo and the £62.5m signing’s first for City – but third in three different competitions – was evidence of his clinical touch.
- Haaland’s outing spanned 17 minutes and came when the game was decided. Erling Haaland started on the bench in a rare sight at the Etihad ()It meant City ended one of the worst weeks of Guardiola’s reign with something of a routine win.