Manchester City 3-1 Bournemouth: Haaland hits another brace as Guardiola's men climb to second
Manchester City responded to their 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa with a 3-1 triumph over Bournemouth, with Erling Haaland scoring twice.
Erling Haaland scored another brace as Manchester City beat Bournemouth 3-1 to go second in the Premier League table.
Haaland entered Sunday's game having scored twice in each of his last three outings on home soil in the competition, and he extended that run with two clinical first-half finishes at the Etihad Stadium.
The Norwegian raced through on goal to put City ahead in the 17th minute, having been fed by Rayan Cherki's clever header from near halfway.
Bournemouth briefly got back on level terms in the 25th minute, with Tyler Adams hooking into an empty net after Gianluigi Donnarumma miscued his punch from Alex Scott's corner.
But City were back in front within eight further minutes, as Haaland latched onto Cherki's defence-splitting pass, rounded Djordje Petrovic, and tucked home.
City should have extended their lead before half-time, but Alex Jimenez turned Nico O'Reilly's centre off the line and Petrovic was equal to a dinked effort from Haaland and a curling free-kick from Cherki.
Eli Kroupi – who had earlier seen a goal disallowed for a clear offside – wasted two decent chances early in the second half, but Bournemouth's hopes of a fightback were killed off when O'Reilly took in Phil Foden's pass and finished across goal in the 60th minute.
City, who also welcomed Rodri back from injury as a late substitute, climb to within six points of Arsenal, while Bournemouth are one point further back in fourth.
Data Debrief: Imperious Haaland closing in on another record
Haaland is just the third player to ever score two or more goals in four successive Premier League home games, after Robbie Fowler in 1995-96 and Luis Suarez in 2013 (five).
He is now just two goals away from a century in the Premier League, having only played 107 games in the competition. Haaland is set to smash the record for fewest games taken to score 100 Premier League goals, with current record holder Alan Shearer reaching that figure in 124 appearances.
His double helped maintain City's exceptional record against Bournemouth, having now won 16 of their 17 Premier League games versus the Cherries (one defeat).
They have averaged 2.82 points per game in those matches, and among sides to face an opponent at least 10 times in the competition, only Chelsea against Portsmouth (2.86) can boast a better average.
