Manchester City did not make it easy for themselves as they had to settle for a 1-0 away win against Brentford. Thus they managed to maintain their unbeaten streak within the last seven matches of all competitions. Consequently, City have got their title challenge alive as they are now only three points behind the leaders of the Premier League table.
Erling Haaland was the one to open the score for Guardiola’s men and it was not an effort for the blonde Norwegian at all. Haaland single-handedly took on Sepp van den Berg and after intercepting Joško Gvardiol’s long ball went ahead to shoot the ball past Caoimhin Kelleher at his near post. Despite their good start, City got a blow as Rodri had to be taken off due to injury.
Tijjani Reijnders almost netted the second goal but Kelleher intervened with a beautiful reflex save. Brentford recognized their chances after the interval and would have leveled the score if Igor Thiago had not been unskillful enough when he went alone on Gianluigi Donnarumma to bury the shot but his heavy touch allowed the goalkeeper to make a save.
The Bees were kept going with Michael Kayode failing to score the late header but City’s defense was up to their task of safeguarding their slender advantage. As a result, City have now moved to within three points of the Premier League top while Brentford are holding on to survival by a narrow margin going into the break.
It was not a masterclass from City, however the winning strike from Haaland was the only thing the Citizens needed in order to secure their title ambitions further on.
