EPL

Erling Haaland says Manchester City are attacking run-in with right mentality

By Sports Desk May 04, 2023

Record-breaking sharpshooter Erling Haaland says treble-chasing Manchester City are attacking the run-in with momentum and the right mindset.

Pep Guardiola’s men kicked off a manic May with a comprehensive 3-0 victory against West Ham at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night.

Second-half efforts from Nathan Ake and Phil Foden came either side of Haaland’s 51st goal of the season as City secured a ninth straight Premier League win.

The result saw Guardiola’s men move back ahead of Arsenal at the summit as they eye a fifth title triumph in six seasons, with talk of a treble continuing in the background.

“It was not easy,” Haaland said after beating West Ham. “It’s not easy when they come and play like that but we scored with Nath and then it kind of opened up more. In the end (it was) a so important three points.

“We are in good shape, the mentality’s right. The only thing we can do is focus on the next game and try to win the next game.

“Now it’s Leeds, we have to focus on the game, we have to only think of that game and to try to win it.”

Saturday’s league match at home to Leeds is followed by the first leg of their mouth-watering Champions League semi-final at Real Madrid on Tuesday.

City are looking to reach the European showpiece for the second time in the club’s history, with AC Milan or Inter Milan lying in wait in Istanbul on June 10.

A week earlier comes a fascinating all-Manchester FA Cup final against rivals United, providing Haaland with the chance to end a fine first season in unforgettable fashion.

“Potentially nine games left and I’m enjoying it,” he said. “To have games all the time, this is something I love so we will see.”

Such occasions are why Haaland join City, whose lofty expectations he has somehow surpassed since joining from Borussia Dortmund last summer.

 

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The 22-year-old has plundered goals aplenty this season and took his Premier League haul to 35 on Wednesday, breaking the competition’s single-season record.

 

“It’s a bit unreal,” Haaland said. “I am really proud and I’m happy. I just have to thank all my team-mates and the staff for making it possible.”

Haaland got a guard of honour from staff and team-mates as he left the pitch after surpassing Andy Cole and Alan Shearer’s previous record.

“It was a nice moment,” he told club media. “It was really painful to get hit in the back by everyone but it was a nice moment.”

Not only did Haaland make history on Wednesday but there was a significant landmark for Guardiola, with Foden’s deflected volley City’s 1,000th goal in all competitions under him.

“I am enjoying it every single game,” Haaland said of life as a striker under the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss.

“It’s hard, he demands a lot, but I try to do my best to develop and do my best on the pitch. That’s what you have to do – nothing more to do than do your best.

“It’s a pleasure and I love to play under Pep. I’m really happy to have him as a coach.”

 

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City are not the only English team going for continental glory as West Ham have a Europa Conference League semi-final date against AZ Alkmaar looming large.

Lifting that trophy would be huge for the east London club but Premier League survival has yet to be assured and Manchester United arrive on Sunday evening.

West Ham defender Aaron Cresswell told WHTV: “It’s a four-game season now and we’re four points clear of the bottom three.

“So, three or four points or whatever it might take to keep us up, we just want to get it sooner rather than later.

“We’ve also got a European semi-final which are going to be two massive games, but obviously every game between now and the end of the season is going to be vital.

“Once the lads are back, I’m sure they’ll be back by Sunday and be raring to go, so as I say every game from now is massive.

“It’s Man United in the late game on a Sunday night and the crowd will be up for it and we want to get the three points.”

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    Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo expressed his pride in seeing compatriot Ryan Gravenberch show off his qualities ‘to the whole world’ after a fine start to the Premier League season.

    Though the Netherlands pair did not become teammates at Liverpool until late summer of 2023, Gakpo knew well Gravenberch’s talents from their respective Eredivisie spells with PSV Eindhoven and Ajax.

    Now in his second season at Anfield, Gravenberch has drawn widespread plaudits for his form in a new deeper-lying midfield role under new head coach Arne Slot, having largely been used as a substitute under Jurgen Klopp.

    Gravenberch is the only midfielder in Europe's big-five leagues to both make 30+ tackles (30) and 30+ interceptions (33) in all competitions this season, and Gakpo insisted that his Netherlands team-mate can continue to go from strength to strength, starting against Southampton this Sunday.

    “We [the Dutchmen at Liverpool] knew Ryan already from the Eredivisie when he played at Ajax, and I think everybody knew already that he is this good,” Gakpo recently told Men in Blazers.

    “After that, he made a move to Bayern Munich, and maybe he didn’t play that much over there, but still everybody in Holland knew how good he could be when he was playing.

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    “Ryan showed his quality in that position, grabbed his chance as well and turned out to be a good match. He is playing outstandingly for us this season.

    “I’m very happy that we can see Ryan, as we Dutchmen already knew, but now he can show it to the whole world. I’m very proud of him.”

    Southampton, meanwhile, welcome the Reds to St. Mary’s on the back of a 2-0 defeat to Wolves ahead of the international break, leaving them bottom of the table after 11 games of the season.

    The Saints are the lowest scorers in the Premier League this season (seven), while only Crystal Palace (5.1%) have a lower shot conversion rate than Russell Martin’s side (6.2%). Just 30.1% of Southampton’s shots have been on target this term (34/113), a league-low ratio.

    However, the Southampton head coach is relishing the opportunity of facing Liverpool, with his players performing well against the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City already this term.

    "I'm really excited about Sunday. We're playing the best team in the country at the moment, on their current form and what they have been doing with their manager, built on an incredible foundation from the previous manager, so I'm really looking forward to it,” Martin said.

    "I think we showed the guys the Premier League table last season and how much it changed by the end and by the end of December. But it's honestly such an exciting month.

    "People talk about the difficulty of the game and every competition we face in the next four or five games, but it's what we all worked so hard for. We should be excited about the challenge.  

    “I think teams have shown in the last few weeks that you can pick up big results against big teams, good opposition, and we are going to have to. Our level of performance against teams at the top end of the table has been good on the whole."

    PLAYERS TO WATCH

    Southampton – Mateus Fernandes

    Fernandes has become a mainstay in the Southampton team, starting the last eight Premier League games in a row, and has been one of Martin’s standout performers in a lacklustre start to the campaign.

    In the Saints’ 2-0 defeat to Wolves last time out, the Portuguese contributed a team-high expected goals (xG) tally of 0.22 from his three shots, while only Yukinari Sugawara (10) and Flynn Downes (12) have created more chances in the top-flight than Fernandes (eight) this season.

    Liverpool – Mohamed Salah

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    He has also been directly involved in 67% of Liverpool’s Premier League goals this season (14/21 – eight goals, six assists), the highest ratio by a player for any side in the division in 2024-25. Indeed, only Matt Le Tissier for Southampton in 1993-94 (69% - 34/49) has scored or assisted a higher proportion of a side’s goals in a single season in the competition.

    MATCH PREDICTION: LIVERPOOL WIN

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    The Reds’ last Premier League game against the Saints was a 4-4 away draw in May 2023 – they conceded as many goals in that game as they had in their previous six visits to St Mary’s combined.

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    OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

    Southampton – 9.7%

    Draw – 12.6%

    Liverpool – 77.7%

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    The 53-year-old was coming to the end of his City deal, which was due to expire at the end of the current campaign, but he has opted to remain at the Etihad Stadium.

    The deal itself will take Guardiola's tenure at the club to over a decade, making him City's longest-serving manager since Les McDowall in 1963.

    There had been suggestions that he may leave at the end of the season following the announcement that director of football Txiki Begiristain was on his way out.

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    Having been appointed in 2016, Guardiola is by some distance Manchester City's most successful manager of all time, having won 18 major trophies during his time at the club.

    That list includes their first-ever Champions League triumph in 2023 and six Premier League titles, including an unprecedented four on the spin.

    He also boasts a 72.04% win percentage across all competitions, which is unsurprisingly the highest of any full-time City manager in history.

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