LONDON — Erling Haaland fired Manchester City to the top of the English Premier League as the striker sealed a 1-0 win against Southampton, while third-placed Aston Villa was frustrated by Bournemouth’s last-gasp leveller.
Haaland had gone three league games without a goal but he ended that mini drought in the first half at the Etihad Stadium.
City has not lost a league game at the Etihad for two years, a run encompassing 35 games, and bottom of the table Southampton, who has only one point from nine games this season, were never likely to shatter that impressive streak.
With Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku ruled out, Pep Guardiola made four changes to the team that thrashed Sparta Prague in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday.
Haaland had scored an audacious goal against Sparta and while his effort to kill off Southampton was more prosaic, it was arguably far more valuable given the context of a tense title race.
Matheus Nunes’s cross reached Haaland in the fifth minute and the Norwegian showed strength and desire to get to the ball ahead his marker for a close-range strike.
City spurned several chances to increase their lead but Haaland’s 14th goal in all competitions this season gave the unbeaten champions seven wins from nine league matches as they chase a fifth successive title.
Aston Villa’s hopes of pushing for the title suffered a setback as Bournemouth snatched a 1-1 draw at Villa Park.
Villa is unbeaten in the UEFA Champions League, sitting top of the table after seeing off Young Boys, Bayern Munich and Bologna.
But they couldn’t follow their latest European success with a domestic victory despite taking the lead in the 76th minute.
Ian Maatsen crossed and Leon Bailey teed up Ross Barkley to hook in his first goal for the club. But Evanilson rescued Bournemouth with the headed equaliser six minutes into stoppage-time.
WOLVES FIGHTBACK
Brentford beat fourth-bottom Ipswich 4-3 in a thrilling clash in west London.
Ipswich’s Sam Szmodics produced a fine finish from 15 yards in the 28th minute before George Hirst clipped a composed strike past Mark Flekken three minutes later.
But Yoane Wissa netted in the 44th minute and Harry Clarke’s own goal seconds later hauled Brentford level.
Bryan Mbeumo’s 51st minute penalty, awarded for Clarke’s foul on Keane Lewis-Potter, put Brentford 3-2 up.
Capping a miserable day for Clarke, he was sent off in the closing stages after fouling Lewis-Potter to earn a second booking.
Liam Delap’s 86th minute equaliser appeared to have spared Clarke’s blushes, but Mbeumo snatched victory with the last kick of stoppage-time.
Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Matheus Cunha struck a superb stoppage-time equaliser to snatch a 2-2 draw at Brighton as they came back from two goals down to grab a point that lifts them off the bottom of the Premier League table.
Though the late recovery from Wolves was brilliant, Brighton only had themselves to blame for not putting their chances away and allowing the visitors to get back into the game, especially after they went two goals in front late on.
The Seagulls dominated the first half, but it took until the 45th minute for them to break the deadlock with a slick finish from Danny Welbeck after visiting keeper Jose Sa gave the ball away cheaply, allowing Brighton to counter.
Until that point, the home side had struggled to get shots on target and it was to come back to haunt them as Wolves gradually upped the tempo in the second half.
Norwegian striker Joergen Strand Larsen wasted a few decent chances for Wolves, and the game looked over for the visitors when Brighton substitute Ferguson turned and shot into the bottom-left corner in the 86th minute.
Instead, Wolves were thrown a lifeline when Rayan Ait-Nouri lashed home a loose ball after a corner two minutes later to set up a grandstand finish.
Searching for a third goal, Brighton somehow butchered a four-on-one situation and allowed Wolves to break up the other end where Cunha advanced and rattled the ball into the net in the third minute of stoppage time for a most unlikely draw.
The point – only the second of the season for Wolves – lifts them to 19th spot on two points, one ahead of Southampton and one behind Crystal Palace, while Brighton is fifth on 16.
