Man City beat Leicester to close gap on Arsenal

Mueez Ajao

– Erling Haaland continued his jaw-dropping assault on the Premier League on Saturday as he netted a first-half brace to equal Mohamed Salah’s single-season goal-scoring record in Manchester City’s 3-1 victory over beleaguered Leicester City on Saturday.

– Haaland increased his haul to 32 goals to tie Salah’s mark for a 38-game season — and the 22-year-old Norwegian scoring machine has eight games still to play.

The joint-most goals in a 38-match #PL season! @ErlingHaaland goes level with @MoSalah 🤝 pic.twitter.com/5Q7QI4Ucl5
— Premier League (@premierleague) April 15, 2023

– Only four days earlier, Haaland had become the first player in English football to score a record 45 goals in a season in all competitions during City’s 3-0 win over Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal.

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– On Saturday, that record tally increased to 47 goals.

– Pep Guardiola sat out his star striker for the second half at Etihad Stadium on Saturday, giving him some rest before the second leg of their Champions League showdown with Bayern.

– Guardiola’s side, who are unbeaten in 14 matches in all competitions, trail leaders Arsenal by three points with a game in hand in their breakneck race for the Premier League title. Arsenal play West Ham on Sunday.

– John Stones scored the opening goal for Manchester City.

– Trailing 3-0, Kelechi Iheanacho pulled one back for Leicester in the 75th minute on otherwise nightmare afternoon for their interim manager Dean Smith, whose team are 19th with 25 points from 31 games in their battle to avoid relegation. They are two points adrift of the safety zone.