Erling Haaland's four-goal haul ensured Manchester City continued their Premier League title charge with a 5-1 triumph over Wolves, as Pep Guardiola's team responded to Arsenal's victory earlier on Saturday in style.
Arsenal moved four points clear at the league summit with their 3-0 win over Bournemouth but Haaland eased any City nerves with his dominant first-half hat-trick at Etihad Stadium.
That quickfire treble included two penalties before Haaland added to his tally after the interval – following Hwang Hee-chan's consolation strike – to move to a competition-leading 25 goals this term.
Haaland’s replacement Julian Alvarez added further gloss late on, as City, who have a game in hand on Arsenal, cut the gap to the Gunners to just one point. Wolves remain 11th with just one win in their past eight league games.
City needed just 12 minutes to take the lead. Rayan Ait-Nouri conceded a penalty for an inadvertent collision with Josko Gvardiol, and Haaland made no mistake from the spot after a VAR review confirmed the on-field decision, sending Jose Sa the wrong way and sweeping into the bottom-left corner.
Sa was equal to Haaland shortly after, though, tipping away the striker's header following Bernardo Silva's right-wing centre – but the Wolves goalkeeper was powerless to prevent the Norwegian doubling his tally after 35 minutes, as Haaland climbed high to redirect Rodri’s back-post centre into the bottom-right corner.
And Haaland had his hat-trick when, on the stroke of half-time, he repeated the trick from 12 yards after he had drawn a clumsy challenge from Nelson Semedo, with the VAR having recommended an onfield review of the incident.
Wolves reduced the deficit eight minutes into the second half as Hwang fired into an empty net from Ederson's unconvincing punch, though City restored their three-goal advantage just a minute later.
Haaland latched onto Phil Foden's over-the-top pass before cutting inside and blasting an arrowed left-footed strike into the top-left corner for the finest of his four strikes.
There was time for City to increase their goal difference, too, as substitute Alvarez wrapped up the scoring after Rodri regained possession high before finding the Argentine, who angled a low effort across Sa.
Golden Boot within Haaland’s grasp
For every Arsenal victory, Guardiola's side continue to respond with three points of their own and still boast a game in hand away against Tottenham to move clear of the Gunners.
City are now unbeaten in their last 20 Premier League games (W15 D4), becoming the second side to manage a streak of 20+ undefeated league matches on five separate occasions – after fierce rivals Manchester United (seven).
That is in large part thanks to Haaland, whose four goals came in just 54 minutes here. Only Gabriel Jesus has scored as many times earlier in a Premier League game, finding the net four times in 53 minutes against Watford in April 2022.
He is now five clear of his rivals in the hunt for the Premier League Golden Boot, and surely he has all but wrapped up that award now.
Frustration grows at Wolves
Gary O'Neil has regularly voiced his concerns over the depth of Wolves' squad, with his side suffering from numerous injury issues across a troubled season.
Matheus Cunha and Ait-Nouri – the latter who conceded the first penalty for an accidental collision with Gvardiol – returned to the starting XI from injury, but that did little to mask Wolves' problems.
Injuries have played their part in hampering O'Neil's tenure, though this clash was a stark reminder of their shortcomings – Wolves have now lost eight of their last nine Premier League visits to Man City.
Charlotte FC v Philadelphia Union: Glass half full for Byrne
Nathan Byrne says Dean Smith's initiative of gifting players bottles of wine when they keep a clean sheet has provided him with plenty of motivation, as the Crown target a fifth successive shutout against the Philadelphia Union.
Charlotte have kept four straight clean sheets in MLS play, playing out a goalless draw with the LA Galaxy last time out after wins over the Portland Timbers (2-0), Nashville SC and the Chicago Fire (both 1-0).
Smith has been rewarding his players for each shutout with a bottle of wine, and Byrne hopes there is plenty more forthcoming.
"It depends if you like wine or not, but for me it's definitely an added incentive. He's behind on his payments," Byrne joked. "We've got enough as it is.
"It helps when there's consistency and the same players learning each other's games every week. We have less individual duels as we can back each other up.
"If you play consistently, you're going to grow in confidence, especially when you're keeping clean sheets and getting good results."
Charlotte are sixth in the Eastern Conference standings, four points clear of eighth-placed Philadelphia.
The Union ended a six-game winless streak by beating the New England Revolution 3-0 last time out, and coach Jim Curtin hopes that result will be a turning point for his side.
Curtin said: "It's a justification for how hard these guys have been working, because we're still the same group right?
"I'm still the same coach, these are still the same players. When they get confident and they get going, we can beat anybody."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Charlotte FC – Kristijan Kahlina
Charlotte have kept four straight clean sheets for the first time in club.
They are the only team to keep clean sheets in four straight matches in MLS this season, and goalkeeper Kahlina will be desperate to keep that run going.
Philadelphia Union – Jack McGlynn
McGlynn (two goals, three assists) has contributed to at least one goal in five straight matches for the Union, equalling the longest streak in club history.
He is the fourth player in Union history to contribute to a goal in five straight games, after Daniel Gazdag (twice), C.J. Sapong and Mikael Uhre.
MATCH PREDICTION – DRAW
The home side has never lost a match between Charlotte and the Union, with the Crown registering a win and a draw in the teams' two meetings at Bank of America Stadium.
Charlotte have only lost two of their last 26 home matches in all competitions, winning 14 and drawing 10 in a run dating back to late March 2023.
The Union, meanwhile, are unbeaten in their first seven away matches this season (three wins, four draws), the longest unbeaten streak on the road in their history.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Charlotte FC – 35.5%
Philadelphia Union – 39.3%
Draw – 25.2%
Man Utd without injured Maguire for FA Cup final
Manchester United defender Harry Maguire will miss Saturday's FA Cup final clash with Manchester City, Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag has confirmed.
Maguire has been sidelined since suffering a muscle injury in training earlier in May, with the timeframe for his recovery estimated at around three weeks.
That meant he always faced an uphill battle to make Saturday's showpiece game at Wembley Stadium, though he was included in England's preliminary Euro 2024 squad on Tuesday.
At Thursday's pre-match press conference, Ten Hag confirmed Maguire will not be available but said Victor Lindelof, Mason Mount and Anthony Martial are in contention after being pictured in training.
"Harry Maguire is unavailable but the rest, all the players you mentioned, I think they are available," the Dutchman said when asked for a team news update.
"We have our final training tomorrow and then we have final decisions to make. But, as I oversee it now, it looks good."
Asked if Maguire's chances of featuring at the Euros were in doubt, Ten Hag said: "I don't think so. It's just he doesn't make it [the final]. It didn't heal as we expected."
Fellow centre-backs Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane are expected to be available, with the latter set to leave United on a free transfer after the final.
United have lost 19 games and conceded 84 goals in all competitions this season. They last lost 20 in a campaign in 1973-74 (22) and last conceded more than 84 goals in 1963-64 (89).
Ten Hag's position has been called into question throughout their miserable campaign, with reports on Thursday suggesting Ipswich Town's Kieran McKenna was a target for the Jim Ratcliffe regime.
Ten Hag, however, says the opportunity to win a second major trophy in as many seasons is his only focus.
"It's all about trophies," he said. "We have a huge opportunity to win a trophy.
"In the last 10 years, there were not many trophies in this club but we have an opportunity to win two trophies in two years."
New England Revolution v New York City FC: Porter committed to Revs' fight
Caleb Porter has praised the New England Revolution’s fighting spirit as they aim to turn their luck around against New York City FC on Saturday.
New England currently sit bottom of the Eastern Conference with seven points after winning just two of their opening 12 matches in the league.
After losing back-to-back games, the pressure is increasing on Porter, though he does not shy away from the hard work needed to move them up the table.
"This team is united," Porter said. "They're fighting. We're all committed to this club and this season.
"This team is on board. They're fighting. They're not happy with the results, but the locker room is together. The key is to win the next game.
"The other thing is, I'm not going anywhere; I'm committed to this club. I know where we're going to get to. I'm not backing down. I'm not wavering. I'm not flinching."
NYCFC sit in third, eight points behind leaders Inter Miami, after losing just one of their last nine MLS matches.
They made it three wins on the bounce with a win over local rivals Red Bulls last weekend, but Nick Cushing is reluctant to get too excited about their current run.
"We've won some football games, that's all we've won," he said.
"We're in a solid position in the league, but in four weeks’ time, I could be saying 'we haven't won that' or 'we should've won that'.
"It's about taking every game as it comes and just keep winning football games. We enjoy our wins, but we focus on the next games. Now, I want to win [against New England]."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
New England Revolution – Carles Gil
Gil has been directly involved in New England’s last two goals scored at home, scoring their most recent and assisting the other.
Overall, he is the club’s top scorer this season with four goals, twice as many as their next most prolific players, Tomas Chancalay and Giacomo Vrioni.
NYCFC – Santiago Rodriguez
Rodriguez assisted one of NYCFC’s two goals in their win over the Red Bulls last Saturday. The Uruguayan (five goals, four assists) has been involved in half of the 18 goals NYCFC have scored this season.
MATCH PREDICTION – NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION WIN
Dating back to the end of last season, New England have lost 14 of their last 18 MLS matches (three wins, one draw incl. playoffs), including losing nine of 12 to start this season (two wins, one draw). The Revs’ seven points are their fewest after 12 matches of a season in club history.
NYCFC recorded a 2-0 home win over New England on April 13. However, they have never defeated the Revs twice in a single regular season before.
NYCFC have won six of their last seven matches (one defeat) including each of the last three in a row. They have won consecutive games away from home but won just one of their previous 24 on the road in all competitions (nine draws, 14 defeats).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
New England Revolution – 41.2%
Draw – 30.3%
NYCFC – 28.5%
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