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• Haaland 'back to business' as Guardiola lauds four-goal Man City star in Wolves win

  Pep Guardiola says Erling Haaland is "back to business" after his four-goal demolition of Wolves that kept Manchester City in touch of Premier League leaders Arsenal.

  The Gunner dispatched Bournemouth 3-0 earlier on Saturday but Haaland's first-half hat-trick – including two penalties – started a roaring response from City at Etihad Stadium.

  Haaland added his fourth after the interval before Julian Alvarez wrapped up the scoring, with Hwang Hee-Chan's second-half strike a mere consolation in a 5-1 hammering of Wolves.

  Victory extended Man City's unbeaten run in the Premier League to 20 games (W16 D4), while they have won each of the last six in a row, netting 4+ goals on five occasions in that run.

  Moving just a point with Arsenal and still boasting a game in hand, Guardiola was relieved to see a firing return to form for Haaland, whose April was hampered by injury issues.

  "It looks comfortable but it was not," the City manager told Sky Sports. "In the end we created more chances but in the transition we were not precise in the last pass.

  "But Erling is back to business. Penalties are a guarantee but the second and fourth [goals] were unbelievable.

  "The 20 minutes he [Haaland] played against Nottingham Forest was really good and today as well. We won, but it was so long an injury.

  "It is welcome he arrived in the right moment, but we arrive together because Erling and Kevin [De Bruyne] have been out."

  Having scored a hat-trick in this exact fixture last season, Haaland became just the third player to score a home treble against the same opponent in consecutive Premier League campaigns.

  The Norway talisman also became the third player to score multiple first-half hat-tricks in Premier League history (also against Forest last season), along with Andrew Cole and Michael Owen (two each).

  Yet the City forward appeared somewhat annoyed with his late substitution for Alvarez.

  "He's a little bit frustrated, but I understand," Guardiola added. "He was frustrated with the referee. With the long balls sometimes they push him and he is pulled. Yes, it is like that."

  City will play their game in hand against Tottenham on May 14, with that their chance to move clear of Mikel Arteta's side.

  Guardiola insists his team must win all their remaining fixtures to lift the top-flight trophy once more.

  "Goal difference is not possible, we cannot draw," he added. "The way Arsenal have been playing has been so good and consistent.

  "It's three games, hopefully we win the first and the second and arrive to the third with our destiny in our own hands."

• Manchester City 5-1 Wolves: Haaland scores four as rampant Citizens respond to Arsenal win

  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.

• Sinner joins Alcaraz in withdrawing from Italian Open

  Jannik Sinner has joined Carlos Alcaraz in withdrawing from the Italian Open due to injury.

  Sinner, who pulled out of his quarter-final tie with Felix Auger-Aliassime at the Madrid Open this week, is suffering with a hip issue.

  It means the world number two will not participate in what would have been a home tournament in Rome, in what is sure to be a disappointment to the Italian fans.

  "It is not easy to write this message but after speaking again with the doctors and specialists about my hip problems I have to announce that unfortunately I will not be able to play in Rome," he wrote on X.

  "Obviously I'm very sad that I didn't recover, it being one of my favourite tournaments ever. I couldn't wait to come back and play at home in front of the Italian crowd."

  Sinner added he was focusing on recovering in time to play at the French Open, which starts towards the end of May.

  On Friday, world number one Alcaraz withdrew from the Italian Open due to an arm problem.