SOUTHAMPTON, England: Erling Haaland backed away from his marker, set himself with his back to goal, and leapt high to deliver an acrobatic scissor-kick into the bottom corner.
Tap-ins, headers, majestic flying volleys. The Manchester City striker really can do anything.
Haaland took his tally of English Premier League goals in his first season with City to 30 with a double in a 4-1 victory at Southampton that kept the pressure on Arsenal in the title race on Saturday.
His first goal, a close-range header, couldn’t have been easier. His second simply took the breath away.
After meeting Jack Grealish’s cross with that stunning volley, Haaland sat on the ground and celebrated with a zen pose. Before long, he was laughing at the brilliance of his own goal — his 44th in all competitions for City this season.
City could still have 18 more matches to play if they go all the way in the FA Cup and Champions League. Fifty goals looks inevitable for Haaland.
“We lived two incredible decades with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi,” City manager Pep Guardiola said, “but (Haaland) is on that level.”
City, meanwhile, are on one of those end-of-season winning runs that has become their trademark. Make that eight straight victories in all competitions — the team’s best streak of the season — to really put the pressure on Arsenal, which takes a five-point lead into their match at Liverpool on Sunday.
Grealish and Julian Alvarez scored City’s other goals on the south coast.
“I would like to be in the position Arsenal are in,” Guardiola said. “I would love that.”
LAMPARD’S RETURN
It wasn’t the return to Chelsea that Frank Lampard would have hoped.
His second spell as the team’s manager started with a 1-0 loss at Wolverhampton in a match that probably meant more to the host, which are among the many clubs involved in a scrap to avoid relegation. Matheus Nunes scored with a rasping, first-time strike into the far corner.
While the win pushed Wolves four points clear of the bottom three, Chelsea moves on to a competition that will define the end to their season — the Champions League.
Chelsea visit Real Madrid in the first leg of the quarterfinals on Wednesday, with Lampard giving N’Golo Kante the weekend off to ensure he is fit after a long injury.
Lampard, a former Chelsea player and manager, has been appointed interim coach until the end of the season after the firing of Graham Potter and is still learning about his expensively assembled team that is languishing in 11th place.
“There has been a lot of change and that’s not an excuse but things need to improve,” Lampard said, “and I think that performance summed it up.”
ROYAL VISITORS
Prince William — who is known to be an Aston Villa fan — and his oldest child, Prince George, were at Villa Park to see if the team could continue their regal form in the league. They weren’t disappointed.
Villa climbed to sixth place after beating Nottingham Forest 2-0 and are on course for their highest finish since 2010, when they ended the season in that position.
Ollie Watkins continued his hot streak with a stoppage-time goal to seal victory and take him to nine in his last 11 games. Villa have won six of their last seven matches.
RELEGATION FIGHT
Leicester might not be too good to go down, after all.
Without a manager after firing Brendan Rodgers last weekend, Leicester look increasingly without hope of staying up after getting beaten by lowly Bournemouth 1-0 for a seventh loss in their last eight league games.
Leicester stayed in next-to-last place, two points from safety with eight games remaining.
England midfielder James Maddison, one of Leicester’s many established internationals, was to blame for the only goal after playing a blind backpass that was pounced on by Philip Billing. He slotted home in the 40th.
Leicester were joined in the relegation zone by Forest, which are tied for point with fourth-to-last Everton.
Bournemouth moved three points clear of the bottom three as did West Ham, which won 1-0 at Fulham thanks to Harrison Reed’s own goal.
Haaland scissor-kick lights up Man City’s big win in EPL
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Haaland scissor-kick lights up Man City’s big win in EPL
- Haaland took his tally of English Premier League goals in his first season with City to 30
- His first goal, a close-range header, couldn't have been easier. His second simply took the breath away
Premier League rings in New Year with goal drought as Man City lose ground in title race
- Second-placed City would have reduced Arsenal’s advantage to two points but instead were frustrated as their winning streak in all competitions was halted at eight
- Liverpool’s attack was also found wanting as they drew 0-0 at home to Leeds United while there were no goals at Brentford as they ground out a draw with Tottenham Hotspur
SUNDERLAND, England: The Premier League’s festive feast turned stale on Thursday as the New Year’s Day program served up three 0-0 draws, most significantly Manchester City’s stalemate at Sunderland which left them four points adrift of leaders Arsenal.
Second-placed City would have reduced Arsenal’s advantage to two points but instead were frustrated as their winning streak in all competitions was halted at eight.
Liverpool’s attack was also found wanting as they drew 0-0 at home to Leeds United while there were no goals at Brentford as they ground out a draw with Tottenham Hotspur.
The only goals of the day came at Selhurst Park where Fulham’s Tom Cairney scored a late equalizer in a 1-1 draw.
Sunderland have proved stubborn opposition on their return to the Premier League and have now drawn with City, Arsenal and third-placed Aston Villa at their Stadium of Light.
They are only the second promoted team to remain unbeaten in their first 10 home games in a Premier League campaign, after Ipswich Town in 1992-93, and were worth their point.
City did everything in their power to make the breakthrough but home goalkeeper Robin Roefs pulled off a series of saves while the closest the visitors came to scoring was Josko Gvardiol’s header which shaved the post in the second half.
“They are so physical. They’re so strong, so it’s not a surprise at that. We take the point,” City boss Pep Guardiola said. “Really pleased with the performances, especially in the second half. There’s still a long way (to go).”
One boost for City was the sight of Rodri back in action as a substitute for the injured Niko Gonzalez having recovered from a hamstring injury that had restricted him to a handful of minutes in the last three months.
Arsenal’s 4-1 thrashing of Villa on Tuesday put them on 45 points at the halfway stage of the season while Pep Guardiola’s City have 41 after just their second league draw of the season.
Next up for Arsenal is a trip to struggling Bournemouth on Saturday while City are at home a day later against Chelsea who parted ways with coach Enzo Maresca on Thursday.
Reigning champions Liverpool are 12 points behind Arsenal in fourth place as they produced a lacklustre display.
Their best chance fell to Hugo Ekitike but his miss rather summed up Liverpool’s day, somehow heading an inviting cross by Jeremie Frimpong away from goal when he seemed set to score.
It could have been worse for Arne Slot’s side too with Dominic Calvert-Lewin having an 81st-minute goal disallowed for offside after latching on to a pass by Noah Okafor.
“You would like to start off (2026) with a win,” Slot said. “But it was difficult. I don’t think we were able to play many times through their low block.
“Sometimes we didn’t have enough bodies in front of the goal and in other moments where we did create or we were close to a goal, we were a bit unfortunate.”
For Leeds it was another important point in their bid to stay clear of the relegation zone. They are in 16th place with 21 points, seven ahead of third-from-bottom West Ham United.
“It doesn’t come along that often that you get a clean sheet and a point at Anfield,” Leeds boss Daniel Farke said.
“We had to defend and suffer but we are newly promoted and came to the defending champions.”
Spurs manager Thomas Frank went back to his old club Brentford but it was a forgettable affair as Tottenham’s 137-game run in the Premier League without a goalless draw ended.
Their last one was also against Brentford in May 2022.
The draw left Tottenham in 12th place with 26 points while Brentford, who had the better chances, are ninth with 27.
Palace are now winless in six matches in all competitions as they were denied victory by a superb curling shot by Cairney.
Jean-Philippe Mateta had headed Palace into the lead but the hosts faded and Fulham would have snatched all three points had Dean Henderson not made a great save to deny Timothy Castagne and had Joachim Andersen not blazed a shot over.
“When the legs and the mind are not that fresh it’s a little bit difficult. It was a good point today,” Palace manager Oliver Glasner said. Palace are 10th with Fulham 11th, both on 27 points.
