Premier League: Manchester City Dump Leicester as Erling Haaland’s Run Continues, Bournemouth Shock Tottenham

Erling Haaland equalled the Premier League record for goals in a 38-game season on Saturday as Manchester City closed the gap on leaders Arsenal to just three points after a day of drama in the top-four race.

The Norway forward netted twice in the first half of City’s 3-1 win over relegation-threatened Leicester to reach 32 goals — the same as Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah’s tally in 2017/18.

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John Stones opened the scoring at the Etihad Stadium before a goal from the penalty spot and a clever dinked finish from Haaland.

Pep Guardiola substituted the 22-year-old at half-time, denying him the chance to hunt down the overall single-season record of 34 goals in the Premier League era — set in the days of 42 games per side.

Leicester, with Dean Smith in charge for the first time, pulled a goal back in the second half through Kelechi Iheanacho but they slumped to a fourth straight defeat and remain second from bottom of the table.

City, chasing a fifth Premier League title in six years, are on 70 points, three behind Arsenal with eight games to go — the Gunners play West Ham on Sunday.

The two teams meet at the Etihad on April 26 in a potential title-decider — City’s next league fixture.

“Like I said lately, it is win, win and win,” said Guardiola, whose side have now won 10 consecutive games in all competitions.

“They have had an incredible run this season and I don’t think they are going to drop many points, so what we have to do is be there.

“It was important for us to win today to arrive for the ‘final’ we have against them in the next Premier League game.”

Bournemouth win at Tottenham

Tottenham’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League were dented after a 3-2 loss to Bournemouth following Dango Ouattara’s stoppage-time winner on Saturday.

A wild Premier League game was won by the visitors after goals by Matias Vina and Dominic Solanke were added to by substitute Ouattara. It earned the Cherries some revenge after their late pain in the reverse fixture in October.

It capped a bad afternoon for Spurs’ acting head coach, Cristian Stellini, who substituted a substitute — Davinson Sanchez — after the defender’s poor 23-minute cameo and saw his aggressive tactics cost his team. Tottenham had six attackers on the field in the final minutes.

Tottenham remained in fifth but has Aston Villa just three points behind and a critical three-game week against top-four rivals Newcastle and Manchester United coming up. Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy faced more chants during the team’s 10th defeat of the league season.

Kickoff was delayed by 15 minutes after Bournemouth arrived late due to traffic and while Spurs were waiting for their opponents to turn up, Newcastle fell to a 3-0 loss at Villa. Manchester United visits Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

Tottenham started impressively and Dejan Kulusevski had three early efforts. Ivan Perisic also looked a threat from the start, which made it no surprise when the Croatian claimed his 11th assist of the season.

Clement Lenglet produced a superb ball over the top of the away defense and Perisic raced through before he cut back for Heung-min Son to fire home. It continued Son’s gradual return to form — this was his third goal in his last five matches after a largely poor campaign by his usual high standards.

While Ryan Christie blazed over from a good position for the Cherries soon after, Tottenham and in particular Son looked in the mood after his 14th-minute opener.

A flurry of stepovers from Son fooled Chris Mepham but Neto produced an outstanding finger-tip save to deny the forward a second.

The South Korean turned creator moments later when he played in Harry Kane, who could only fire straight at Bournemouth’s captain Neto.

Yet, as has often been the case this season, Spurs were unable to sustain their momentum and slowly the relegation-threatened visitors gained a foothold.

Marcus Tavernier forced Hugo Lloris into a decent save before Tottenham lost defender Lenglet to a muscle injury.

Stellini reacted by introducing Sanchez but made another alteration to his back three with Cristian Romero moved over to left center back. Bournemouth made the most of an unsettled home defense.

Pedro Porro was robbed by Vina outside Spurs’ penalty area and Solanke sent the full debutant through on goal where he expertly lobbed over the onrushing Lloris in the 38th minute.

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It was a fine finish by a player who had played a total of 17 minutes prior to this game since he joined on loan from Roma in January.

Bournemouth was forced into its own change soon after halftime with Vina withdrawn with a back injury but the team was celebrating a second goal with 51 minutes played.

Sanchez was involved for all the wrong reasons, with Tavernier able to turn the center back inside out. While the Spurs substitute got his toe to the ball, it only knocked it perfectly into Solanke’s path and he chipped past Lloris.

Tottenham fans booed Sanchez’s next touch and Stellini realized he had to act with the Colombian’s cameo soon brought to an end.

Arnaut Danjuma earned a rare opportunity against his former club as a result and quickly tested Neto.

Kane sent a header wide from Porro’s cross with 20 minutes left and Stellini further gambled with Richarlison introduced, with Spurs now in a hybrid formation that had six attackers on the field.

When Porro blazed over wildly, chants of “We want Levy out” rang out from the South Stand.

An offside call denied Richarlison his first league goal soon after before Danjuma appeared to have rescued Tottenham a point with a fine low effort two minutes from time.

Spurs were hit by a sucker punch when trying to find a winner. Bournemouth broke and Solanke teed up Ouattara, who cut inside and curled home to spark wild celebrations from the away dugout.

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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)