MANCHESTER: Norwegian goalscoring phenomenon Erling Haaland fired his fourth Premier League hat-trick of a remarkable season to earn Manchester City a comfortable 3-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday.

City dominated the first half and deservedly took the lead after Haaland headed home from a pinpoint cross from Kevin De Bruyne in the 40th minute.

It was a matter of time until City got that crucial second goal, with Haaland converting from the spot following a foul on Ilkay Gundogan five minutes after the break. The Norwegian then quickly completed his treble to put the game to bed.

Haaland broke former Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record of being the fastest player to four Premier League hat-tricks. Haaland’s four came in 19 games, Van Nistelrooy’s in 65.

City cruised to victory from there on in as they closed the gap to league leaders Arsenal to two points, but the Gunners have two games in hand, the first of which is against Manchester United later on Sunday. Wolves stay 17th on 17 points.

Haaland had in fact endured a mini goal drought of three City appearances in all competitions prior to last week’s strike against Tottenham Hotspur, but he certainly brought his shooting boots for the visit of struggling Wolves.

The home side had a host of chances to break the deadlock before Haaland pounced with clinical precision five minutes before the interval, with his second expertly put away from the spot.

That penalty took him to 30 goals in all competitions with half the season left to play, before adding one more to his tally after a dreadful error from Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa.

His remarkable 25-goal league haul from 19 matches would have been enough to win the Premier League golden boot in each of the previous four seasons. Dixie Dean’s record of 60 goals scored in a single league season, set in 1928, remains in sight.

Meanwhile, Leeds edged one point clear of the bottom three, but remain without a league win since November after a 0-0 draw at home to Brentford.

David Raya denied the in-form Wilfried Gnonto with the best save of the game to salvage the Bees a point that moves them above Liverpool into eighth.

Published in Dawn, January 23th, 2023