Haaland propels Man City to top with double against West Ham

MANCHESTER, England, Dec 20 : ‌Manchester City climbed to the top of the table with a ruthless 3-0 dismantling of West Ham United on Saturday, as Erling Haaland bagged a double to top Cristiano Ronaldo’s Premier League goals tally in less than half the time.

Pep Guardiola’s men have 37 points after 17 games, while Arsenal, with 36 points, could reclaim top spot when they play at Everton later on Saturday. West Ham remain in the danger zone in 18th on 13 points.

City stamped their authority early on, and Haaland struck in the fifth minute when his first shot from Phil Foden’s cross was parried by Alphonse Areola. He made no mistake with his second chance, firing home past the goalkeeper.

Tijjani Reijnders doubled City’s lead in the 38th minute after Rayan ‌Cherki intercepted the ball in the Hammers’ end, cut around a defender and played the ball to Haaland. ‌The Norwegian passed to Reijinders who fired into the roof of the net.

Haaland completed his double in the 69th with an easy tap-in after some woeful West Ham defending for his 104th league goal for City when West Ham’s Jean-Clair Tobido tried to clear the ball but it bounced off him and to the feet of Haaland.

The 22-year-old Haaland cruised past Ronaldo’s mark of 103 goals in 236 appearances in England’s top flight, reaching 104 in just 114 games. He has 149 goals for City across all competitions.

Haaland, who squandered several other chances including a shot into the side netting and a header that breezed just over the bar, looked determined to complete a ‍hat-trick and had the Etihad Stadium fans on their feet deep in injury time when he was one-on-one with Areola before sending his shot just wide of the far post.

While West Ham, who have gone six games without a win, were penned in their own half before the break, they were brighter after it, and City keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma was finally pressed into action with a brilliant double save early in the second half, first stopping a shot from Crysencio Summerville and then one from Freddie Potts.

CITY STILL NEED ​TO IMPROVE, GUARDIOLA SAYS

City have been gaining ground on Arsenal, ‌and Saturday’s was their eighth consecutive league win.

While Guardiola was not entirely pleased with his team’s performance, saying they need to improve to win the title, he conceded: “You still have to celebrate.

“I’m not saying that I’m not happy with what they’ve done in the last eight games but the ​only chance we have is when you grow, the team grows,” he said. “The team has grown up a lot in the past weeks but with the ball still we are ⁠not good enough.”

Reijnders said their recent run of form came down to ‌confidence.

“We had to keep confidence and you want to win every game but with the right confidence and mentality, you can do it,” he told Sky Sports. “It ​shows how much quality we have and how much we have grown as a team.

“It’s a good job from us and we have to keep going. We have to see. We will keep the pressure on them (Arsenal).”

The match was City’s last of 2025 at the Etihad and ‍their 16th win against West Ham at their home stadium in their last 17 meetings.

Asked about being in the relegation zone at Christmas, West Ham boss Nuno Espirito Santo ⁠said: “It’s a reality. We have to face it.

“Of course I’m concerned. We started really badly, giving goals away, of course everything becomes harder when you concede so early. Much improvement in the second half.”

West ​Ham’s Kyle Walker-Peters added: “We know how good ‌City are, they are at it at the moment. We knew it would be tough here, we had a gameplan and tried to ‍stick ​to it but it was tough.”