Tag: Erling Haaland

Erling Haaland stole the attention with a hat-trick on it, rendering his early double penalty miss a distant memory, and the upshot was that Norway could look with clear heads toward a near-certain first World Cup appearance in 27 years.

A win over Estonia next month will confirm their presence; Egil Olsen, their manager at France 1998, looked on as Israel offered scant opposition to Europe’s most ruthless attacking force.

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Israel’s very presence in Oslo had been highly contested, the buildup framed by the Norwegian Football Federation’s public stance that they should be banned from international football due to the war in Gaza.

There will be relief that confrontations were kept to a minimum beyond a brief spate of trouble outside the Ullevaal Stadion during half-time.

Erling Haaland continued his prolific form as Manchester City battled to a narrow victory over Brentford and gave boss Pep Guardiola his 250^th  Premier League win.

Guardiola is the quickest manager to reach the milestone having done so in just 349 games – 55 games quicker than anyone else.

Haaland outmuscled Sepp van den Berg to gather Josko Gvardiol’s looping cross, then wriggled away from the defender before precisely slotting past Caoimhin Kelleher.

It is the Norwegian striker’s third goal this week and his 18^th  in 11 games for club and country this season.

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City had to hold on to their slim lead at the Gtech Community Stadium for more than 80 minutes but limited Brentford to few opportunities, despite the game opening up somewhat in a scrappy second half.

Victory moves City up to fifth before the international break, but there was concern for midfielder Rodri when he hobbled off with injury after just 21 minutes.

The Spaniard missed much of last season with an anterior cruciate ligament injury and is yet to return to the form that won him the Ballon d’Or last year.

EPL RESULTS

Aston Villa 2 -1 Burnley 

Everton 2-1 Crystal

Newcastle 2 -0 Nottingham

Wolves 1-1 Brighton

Brentford 0-1 Man City 

Manchester City have started the 2025-26 Premier League season with a convincing 4-0 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Erling Haaland opened the scoring to put City in front after the home side saw Marshall Munetsi’s header ruled out for offside. Midfielder Tijjani Reijnders then made it two on his Premier League debut.

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Haaland added his second of the game with a sharp finish after a lovely attacking move and then Rayan Cherki also scored on his Premier League debut to make it 4-0.

Tributes were paid to Diogo Jota throughout the day by the Wolves fans in their first league match since the passing of their former striker.

 Manchester City striker Erling Haaland will be out of action for up to seven weeks after suffering an ankle injury, manager Pep Guardiola has said.

The 24-year-old Norway international, who has scored 30 goals in 40 matches in all competitions this season for City, picked up the injury in their FA Cup quarter-final win at Bournemouth on Sunday.

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“Sometimes there are years when these kinds of things happen. It happened all season. I would say that it could have been different if it was the end of the season (before the Club World Cup),” Guardiola told reporters .

“So with all the injuries we have had this season, I’m so sorry for them and for Erling as well. So (I wish him) a good recovery, as speedy as possible, then come back.

“They told me the doctors between five to seven weeks. So hopefully the end of the season and by the Club World Cup he will be ready.”

Manchester City were dealt a major blow with leading scorer Erling Haaland set for a spell on the sidelines after suffering an ankle injury as the season reaches its climax.

The 24-year-old Norwegian was injured in Sunday’s 2-1 FA Cup quarter-final win at Bournemouth.

Having just scored his 30^th  goal of the season to level the tie, he was then hurt in a challenge with Bournemouth midfielder Lewis Cook.

The Premier League champions did not provide a timescale for the player’s return.

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 “The expectation is that Erling will be fit in time to play a further part in the remainder of this season, including this summer’s FIFA Club World Cup,” said a club statement.

 “Erling underwent initial tests in Manchester on Monday morning and will now seek specialist consultation to confirm the full extent of the injury.

 “Assessment remains ongoing to ascertain a full prognosis.”

City are currently fifth in the Premier League and battling to ensure a spot in the Champions League next season.

Pep Guardiola’s side face matches against Leicester and Manchester United this week.

They then have a visit from Crystal Palace and a trip to Everton before their FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest, at Wembley on April 26.

Erling Haaland scored twice as recovering Manchester City made it back-to-back wins by beating West Ham 4-1 at the Etihad Stadium.

After a Vladimir Coufal own goal had put City in front, Haaland – who now has 16 league goals this season – scored either side of the break, and Phil Foden added the fourth before Niclas Fullkrug pulled one back for the visitors.

It is the first time the Premier League champions have recorded two victories in a row since October, although Pep Guardiola’s men stay sixth in the table.

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Guardiola welcomed the win but felt his Manchester City side were still far from their best after.

He said: “We saw in many years our level and we are not at our level. We won, I am so happy and it helps.

“But you judge results, (when) our performance was not good.

“I’m so happy for the guys, and the work ethic, but in the first minutes deserved to be 0-1, 0-2 and we were lucky with the first goal.

“We are a strong team (when) we run a lot and have the composure, but now we don’t have it.”

Manchester City’s dismal run of form, with one win in eight Premier League games, is down to the whole team and not one player, manager Pep Guardiola said, with struggling striker Erling Haaland not to blame.

City’s current streak, which leaves the champions seventh in the standings and 12 points off leaders Liverpool, coincides with Haaland scoring just twice, after the Norwegian netted 10 times in their opening five games.

At a weightlifting competition in Taipei for seniors aged 70 and above, 90-year-old Cheng Chen Chin Mei confidently waves to a cheering crowd before deadlifting 77 pounds.

“It’s about us, it’s not just about one player,” Guardiola told a press conference ahead of Thursday’s game with Everton.

“So when in the past we scored goals and Erling was so prolific in helping us, it’s because of the team. And when you have problems at the back, in the middle, it’s for everyone.

“If it was just one player, the reason why, it would be easy. It’s not about that. Erling is so important for us, will be so important for us, has been, and we try to do the things better, to use him better.”

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Guardiola is still uncertain if John Stones, Matheus Nunes or Ederson will be fit when City host Everton, and while the coach was unable to pinpoint a single reason for their poor run, he was optimistic of a return to form in the near future.

“All the tendency to say we don’t run, we don’t fight, the reason why is this one, this situation or this player or this manager or this,” Guardiola said.

“It’s not about that. It’s many little details or big details that all together make us not as good as we were.

“But we have another opportunity on Boxing Day to try and win time for the players to come back and in a certain time we’ll be better.”

Everton may be 15th in the standings, 11 points behind City, but they do have a better defensive record than Guardiola’s side, and have kept five clean sheets in their last six games.

“Sean Dyche always has a really good defensive structure, really good patterns defensively, offensively,” Guardiola said.

“And when they are able to do it against Arsenal and Chelsea, that means they are really good because they have good transitions and of course at set-pieces, long balls, they are really, really strong.”

While City players will have some time with their families over Christmas, with the team playing on Dec. 26, there are sacrifices to be made.

“We train today, we train tomorrow night. We stay over here and we are going to play on Boxing Day,” Guardiola said.