Haaland fires another hat-trick to earn Man City comfortable win over Wolves

MANCHESTER, England: Norwegian goalscoring phenomenon Erling Haaland fired his fourth Premier League hat-trick of a remarkable season to earn Manchester City a comfortable 3-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday (Jan 22).

City dominated the first half and deservedly took the lead after Haaland headed home from a pinpoint cross from Kevin De Bruyne in the 40th minute.

It was a matter of time until City got that crucial second goal, with Haaland converting from the spot following a foul on Ilkay Gundogan five minutes after the break. The Norwegian then quickly completed his treble to put the game to bed.

Haaland broke former Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy's record of being the fastest player to four Premier League hat-tricks. Haaland's four came in 19 games, Van Nistelrooy's in 65.

City cruised to victory from there on in to stay five points behind league leaders Arsenal, who beat Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium later on Sunday. Wolves stay 17th on 17 points.

"He (Haaland) has to get the balls delivered, he has fantastic players around him," coach Pep Guardiola said. "The ball from Kevin is fantastic.

"He (Haaland) lives 24 hours for his job, passion, love. He's not stressed much. He is stable. He feels the defeats. His numbers are incredible.

"The way we played today was quite similar to the first-half when we were losing 2-0 to Spurs (on Thursday). Our game, football was really good. Today we improved."

Haaland had in fact endured a mini goal drought of three City appearances in all competitions prior to last week's strike against Tottenham Hotspur, but he certainly brought his shooting boots for the visit of struggling Wolves.

The home side had a host of chances to break the deadlock before