Erling Haaland’s hat-trick beats Wolverhampton and Manchester City scores the difference with Arsenal | Premier League

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The hat-trick man is back – if he’s been away. Erling Haaland’s fourth hat-trick has taken him to 25 goals in the Championship, 31 in all, and it could indicate that Manchester City are once again the fantastic winning machine that Pep Guardiola has demanded.

The win takes the champions into two places behind Arsenal ahead of the leaders’ game later on Sunday afternoon against Manchester United. Haaland, as he does, made the scoring look like child’s play – his strikes came in an exhibition of 17 minutes – and so Guardiola could, for today at least, take pleasure in responding to the arms-scattering call that came after Thursday’s win over Tottenham. Which was repeated before kick-off in the request for “fire and passion”.

Guardiola said in his next sentence: “I love my players a lot.” If this is the Catalans dancing between teasing their charges and needing to keep them in tip-top shape, they have decided that two of those from the Tottenham encounter – Julian Alvarez and Nathan Ake – should be discarded as Kevin De Bruyne and Aymeric Laporte have been recovered.

As this game drew to a close, the taunts the home team faced three days earlier were forgotten, as City nonchalantly slammed the ball around and around manager Julen Lopetegui’s side.

The Wolverhampton manager had instructed his players to sink the champions close to Ederson’s goal on possession. The problem was that City were the ultimate ballplayers, so the other tactic was more rudimentary: arm them hard, as when Max Kellman bumped into Ilkay Gundogan (Kelmann got a yellow card) and Hwang Hee-chan pushed Rico Luis aside afterwards. Mario Lemina got into David Kot’s book after protesting the free kick. Then, for delivering three warnings in 13 minutes, the referee wrote Lopetegui’s name for his angry reaction.

It all started in the opening corner when two Nélson Semedo tackles jostled John Stones and the latter meant City’s love of liquidity should trump any upset.

Erling Haaland stepped up to win with a header as Manchester City sought to destroy Wolverhampton. Photo: Matt West/Shutterstock

Lopetegui, the former Spain and Real Madrid coach who needs to adapt to the more modest talents of the gold medalists, can be pleased with City’s relative weakness so far. A 20-yard effort from Jack Grealish that warmed Jose Sa’s hands bothered him as much as Gundogan’s loose header after Luis spun it over. When Haaland attacked, there was relief in Nathan Collins’ touch, which frustrated the striker.

Guardiola’s motto is that all encounters in the division are difficult, but Wolves are among the lowest scorers in the league with 12 goals and with only two wins over City in 20 years, yet the hosts are still aware of the missing proportions and vitality set by their manager. Six minutes before the end of the first half, the search ended.

Riyad Mahrez danced on the right side, De Bruyne received the ball and turned it around, and Haaland headed into the SA goal. Moments later Collins hit Grealish’s shin but after the winger fell and a VAR checked a replay the referee was not the penalty.

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No. 2 would have been the deciding order, though, if Collins’ fronts hadn’t cleared Grealish’s try, followed by Gündogan’s cross from the line, so Wolves were grateful when Coote blew on for tea and oranges.

Guardiola replaced Ake with Luis, and Lopetegui replaced Joao Moutinho, Matheus Cuna and Pablo Sarabia (on his debut) with Adama Traore, He-Chan and Raul Jimenez. Sarabia may have immediately equalized with a header before City scored to kill the match. Ruben Neves pulled Gundogan off, Cote got the penalty and Haaland slotted it in. “Zero in the library,” he quipped about the traveling support (he dug in Guardiola’s pits at the home fans on Thursday) but noise ensued when he broke, Grealish lunged at Mahrez, and missed from close range.

Sa Halland gifted his third with a terrible howl. The goalkeeper’s slow pass was swept away by Mahrez and the Norwegian won’t miss from yards out. Near the end, Gundogan missed a header that made Guardiola grab his head. It didn’t matter to the outcome but not to the manager, just another illustration of how rushed he was.

Haaland’s last hat-trick came in October in a 6-3 win over Manchester United. At the final whistle, all the persuasion of City was tuned in to do their damn thing: cheer their crosstown rivals in the hope that they could beat Arsenal.

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