Man City Topple Arsenal as Haaland Reaches 50-goal Mark
- Liverpool win seven-goal thriller with Spurs
Manchester City beat Fulham 2-1 to return to the top of the Premier League as Erling Haaland scored his 50th goal of the season in all competitions.
Haaland converted a third-minute penalty, after Julian Alvarez had been fouled by Tim Ream, to become the first top-flight player to reach a half-century of goals in one campaign since Tom ‘Pongo’ Waring did so for Aston Villa in 1931.
The Norwegian striker also moved level for most goals in a Premier League season – matching the 34 goals Andy Cole scored for Newcastle in 1993-94 and the same amount Alan Shearer registered for Blackburn a year later.
However, Fulham grabbed a 15th-minute equaliser with their first attempt of the match as Carlos Vinicius powerfully shot past Ederson after Harry Wilson had headed the ball into his path.
But the hosts could not hang on to record what might have been a remarkable result.
Jack Grealish had an effort pushed on to the crossbar for Manchester City, who regained their lead in the 36th minute through Alvarez’s superb strike from 25 yards out.
City’s win moves them to 76 points – and one point clear of – Arsenal, with Pep Guardiola’s side having a game in hand.
This is the first time City have been above Arsenal since mid-February as they aim to win the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup treble.
Instead, when former Everton striker Richarlison headed his first Premier League goal of the season in stoppage time, Spurs were on the brink of rescuing an unlikely draw – until Jota capitalised on a defensive mix-up seconds later to win the game for Liverpool.
Elsewhere, Diogo Jota’s injury-time winner gave Liverpool a dramatic 4-3 victory at Anfield after Tottenham looked on course to salvage a point despite going three goals behind inside 15 minutes.
Spurs were 5-0 down after 20 minutes at Newcastle United and swiftly found themselves three goals adrift at Anfield as Liverpool delivered an opening salvo that left them chasing what looked like a lost cause.
