Snl24.com | Record-Breaker Haaland Sends Man City Top

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – MAY 03: Erling Haaland of Manchester City celebrates after scoring their second goal during the Premier League match between Manchester City and West Ham United at Etihad Stadium on May 03, 2023 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey – Danehouse/Getty Images)

Manchester City  3-0 West Ham United

Manchester City returned to the top of the Premier League with a 3-0 victory over West Ham United on Wednesday night.

Pep Guardiola made three changes from the win over Fulham, as Stefan Ortega made his league debut in place of Ederson between the sticks.

Kevin de Bruyne missed out again, Bernardo Silva and Nathan Ake came in for Ilkay Gundogan and Manuel Akanji, while the Hammers were without Declan Rice and Kurt Zouma.

With Arsenal defeating Chelsea on Tuesday, the Citizens needed maximum points to reclaim top spot ahead of the weekend’s fixtures.

The Citizens dominated for most of the first half, but were left frustrated by West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski while Rodri had an effort crash against the frame of the goal.

The home side did get the breakthrough shortly after the break when the returning Ake got on the end of Riyad Mahrez’s free-kick and headed into the bottom corner.

The lead was doubled in the 70th minute when Silva played in Erling Haaland, who lobbed the ball over the on-rushing Fabianksi to bring up his 35th league, which is a new Premier League record.

Second-half substitute Phil Foden wrapped up the scoring with four minutes left as his volley from the edge of the box took a deflection and sailed past a helpless Fabianksi.

Liverpool 1-0 Fulham 

Liverpool moved to within four points of the top four after defeating Fulham 1-0 at Anfield on Wednesday night.

Jurgen Klopp made three alterations after Sunday’s thrilling win over Tottenham Hotspur, with Jordan Henderson, Konstantinos Tsimikas and Darwin Nunez returning to the starting line-up.

The Reds had a chance to put some pressure on the top four with this game in hand, although Manchester United are in action away to Brighton and Hove Albion on Thursday night.

The clash got off to a lively start as both Nunez and Mohamed Salah squandered chances in the opening 20 minutes, while Reds goalkeeper Alisson Becker did well to keep out a strike from Carlos Vinicius.

Fulham’s resolve would break in the 39th minute as Liverpool were awarded a penalty for Diop’s foul on Nunez in the box, which allowed Salah to step up and slam home for the opening goal.

Klopp’s charges were finding it tough to break down Fulham in open play in the second half, which prompted Klopp to throw on Cody Gakpo and Andrew Robertson for Diaz and Tsimikas just after the hour mark.

The visitors did have a couple chances to get back on level terms in the latter stages, but they were unable to hit the target as the Reds held on for their fifth straight win.