Historic goal masks hidden Erling Haaland improvement for Man City

Erling Haaland's 50th goal of the season for Manchester City, and record-equalling 34th in the Premier League will naturally get all of the post-match headlines, and rightly so. After playing more of a provider role against Arsenal in the week, Haaland continued to show his improvement as a playmaker as well as a goalscorer at Fulham.

Against Arsenal, Haaland was tasked with coming as deep as the centre circle to drag defenders out of position and allow Kevin De Bruyne space to exploit. He stayed closer to the Fulham goal at Craven Cottage, but he was still doing everything he could to unsettle the Fulham centre-backs. Twice in the first half, Haaland dropped a couple of steps deep and cleverly flicked a ball into the path of an unmarked Jack Grealish.

Bernd Leno was equal to the efforts, but with Haaland now actively looking for the ball in the build-up, and City players more alert to where the space will open up, he is becoming an even more difficult player to stop. As his goal tally ticks into the 50s, that is a frightening prospect for the nine defences still to face him this season. It's fair to argue that his two performances this week have been his best two in a City shirt in terms of all-round play.

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It feels that Pep Guardiola has been doing everything he can to ward off any complacency in his City players after beating Arsenal. He insists the Premier League title is far from won and can be lost far easier than it will be secured. He has refused to entertain talk of the Champions League trip to Real Madrid, and his team selection at Fulham was as strong as possible to send a message to his players.

City were always expected to beat Fulham, yet the same game will