Premier League: Man City reclaim top spot as Liverpool continue quest for Champions League football next season
Manchester City’s Erling Haaland scored his record-breaking 35th Premier League goal of the season to help secure a 3-0 victory against West Ham United that sent his side back to the top of the table on Wednesday.
The Norwegian killed off a stubborn West Ham resistance when he dinked a delicate chip into the net after 70 minutes to break the record for the amount of goals in a single season in the Premier League.
Treble-chasing City, who began the night in second place after Arsenal’s defeat of Chelsea on Tuesday, had twice been denied by the woodwork as they were frustrated by relegation-threatened West Ham in the first half.
But Nathan Ake made the breakthrough five minutes after the interval with a header from a free-kick.
Haaland then eased the tension around the Etihad Stadium as he latched on to Jack Grealish’s through ball to beat Lukasz Fabianski and move past the 34 goals of Andy Cole and Alan Shearer with five games still to play.
With the points secured, substitute Phil Foden then made it 3-0 with a superbly-struck volley in the 85th minute.
City, chasing a fifth title in six seasons under Pep Guardiola, have 79 points from 33 games with Arsenal on 78, having played a game more. They will move four clear if they beat Leeds United at home on Saturday.
West Ham remain in trouble in 15th place, four points above the relegation zone.
Mohamed Salah scored from the penalty spot to keep Liverpool’s slim hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League alive as they cruised to a 1-0 win over Fulham at Anfield in the Premier League on Wednesday.
The win lifts Liverpool to 59 points, four behind fourth-placed Manchester United, who have two games in hand over the Merseysiders, while Fulham are 10th on 45 points.
Fulham had the first decent chance of the game when Carlos Vinicius forced Alisson Becker into a save with a stinging shot that was turned behind for a corner in the 14th minute, but a moment of madness from Issa Diop saw them fall behind six minutes before the break.
The Fulham centre back looked to be in no danger as he allowed a pass to run across his body, but Darwin Nunez made the most of his indecisiveness to poke the ball away and the defender hacked him down, with the referee immediately pointing to the spot.
Salah stepped up and smashed the resulting spot kick straight down the middle to extend his streak of scoring in consecutive games at home to eight.
Fulham’s best chance to equalise came when Vinicius broke through in the 77th minute but again Alisson thwarted him, using a strong right hand to deflect his close-range shot behind and ensure his side held on for a fifth straight Premier League win.
