Manchester City beat Brentford 3-0 after a biblical downpour gave way to clearer skies, with Erling Haaland scoring the clinching goal and Jérémy Doku breaking the deadlock on the hour.
The decisive move began with Antoine Semenyo marauding down the right before his cross struck at least one Brentford body and dropped into the path of Haaland, who made no mistake for his 26th Premier League goal of the season. City manager Pep Guardiola jumped into the arms of his assistant Kolo Touré as the goal went in, a burst of relief after a match that had threatened to drag on. The result left City two points behind Arsenal after both sides had played 35 matches.
Brentford had arrived with only one defeat in their previous eight Premier League games, but City finally found the gap after Guardiola turned to his bench on 59 minutes, replacing Tijjani Reijnders with Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki with Omar Marmoush. Not long after, Doku went on a solo run and finished the move himself to open the game up.
Guardiola said afterwards, “Come on you Irons,” and added: “I wanted runners to arrive in the area.” The line fit the way City played in flashes, pressing for control without always finding it, and it matched the wider picture of a team still trying to keep Arsenal under pressure. City had recently won 1-0 at Burnley and drawn 3-3 at Everton, results that showed both their resilience and the gaps in their rhythm without Rodri’s control. Against Brentford, they did enough, and Haaland’s finish made the scoreline look more comfortable than the first hour had been.
