{"id":41500,"date":"2024-02-06T07:24:26","date_gmt":"2024-02-06T07:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=41500"},"modified":"2024-02-06T07:24:30","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T07:24:30","slug":"premier-league-brentford-1-3-manchester-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2024\/02\/06\/premier-league-brentford-1-3-manchester-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Premier League: Brentford 1-3 Manchester City"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It had been billed as Erling Haaland\u2019s grand comeback to the Manchester City starting XI. Perhaps there could be a shootout with Ivan Toney, the Brentford striker, who is also \u00adre-establishing himself after rather longer on the sidelines in the wake of his betting ban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a while, there was the \u00adglimmer that Neal Maupay could upstage them both when he gave Brentford a shock lead midway through a first half made memorable by the \u00addefiance of Mark Flekken in the home goal. But by the end, it was all about another attacker whose talent can seem utterly irresistible on nights like these.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Premier League title is back in City\u2019s hands after Liverpool\u2019s defeat at Arsenal on Sunday \u2013 right where they like it. Phil Foden had the ball at his feet in front of goal, even his head at one point, and that is exactly where he likes it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Phil<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foden does not score many with his head but he did so here to put City 2-1 up. He had got the equaliser \u2013 chest, bounce and finish \u2013 while he saved the best for the hat-trick, an explosion on to Haaland\u2019s lay-off, each touch perfect, giving nobody close to him inside the area the \u00adslightest sniff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

City are on an ominous roll, \u00adwinning all seven matches since their victorious return from the Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pep Guardiola said recently that he can feel the desire of his players to win and keep on winning. \u00adBrentford had done the double over City last season but nobody in the red and white stripes could stop Foden. Will anybody be able to do likewise with his team? The question pounds with increasing force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Brentford\u2019s<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Brentford\u2019s Mark Flekken denies Erling Haaland, who was making his first start since December. Photograph: Nigel Keene\/ProSports\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thing with City is that \u00adresistance can seem futile. Few have resisted as gamely as Flekken did \u00adduring an extraordinary first half \u00addisplay, the statistics showing he made eight saves, the majority of them crackers. He even got the assist for Maupay\u2019s goal. By full-time, though, he was a footnote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maupay\u2019s goal was a bolt for the sky blues, stunning in its surprise value because at that stage, Flekken\u2019s goal was under siege. Everything changed \u2013 briefly \u2013 when he launched a long ball forward, although maybe the real assist ought to have been \u00adcredited to Toney. He set a screen against Nathan Ak\u00e9, basketball-style, which allowed Flekken\u2019s clearance to keep on \u00adrunning to Maupay, who rolled past Ederson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maupay seems to take a \u00addisproportionate delight in winding up opponents. He would clash with R\u00faben Dias on a defensive corner, earn a yellow card for a late crunch into Rodri and have lengthy exchange of views with Guardiola in the \u00adclosing stages, after seemingly saying \u00adsomething to incense Kyle Walker. Nobody can say that Maupay is not on fire in front of goal. He has now scored in five consecutive games. Maybe he should stick to that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guardiola had been delighted to give Haaland his first start since a foot fracture in early December. For the first time since the opening game of the league season, the City manager had Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne in at the outset. It is all part of the \u00adnarrative that has the club ready to bolt for the finish line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brentford\u2019s poor results have been well-documented \u2013 it is now seven defeats in eight, although they have deserved more with their \u00adperformances \u2013 and Flekken was called upon to deny Juli\u00e1n \u00c1lvarez twice and Walker inside the first 15 minutes. Those in front of him put their bodies on the line, one block from Ethan Pinnock to thwart \u00adHaaland on seven minutes especially vital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

lekken saved one-on-one against Haaland after a loose Vitaly Janelt backpass and he did well to keep out a Josko Gvardiol blast, while City had other near-misses in the first half, including when a goalbound \u00adBernardo Silva shot hit Mads \u00adRoerslev to fly wide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brentford threatened before the interval when Ederson clawed away Sergio Reguil\u00f3n\u2019s cross-cum-shot and Dias needed to make an \u00adimportant intervention to block from Janelt with Ederson off his line. Foden, though, finally restored parity in stoppage time after Pinnock\u2019s poor headed clearance from a De Bruyne cross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Against this City, it can feel \u00adrelentless, inevitable and they went in front on 53 minutes; after all of Brentford\u2019s hard work at the back, it was another soft concession. Nobody closed down De Bruyne and nobody tracked Foden\u2019s run. The cross was lovely. Foden strained his neck muscles to generate the power and accuracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brentford refused to stop believing. They created the chances to equalise. Christian N\u00f8rgaard was denied by a big Dias block and Toney put too much on a side-on volley when well placed. Foden would kill them off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnly Phil will decide his limits,\u201d Guardiola said. \u201cHow he moves in small spaces, his impact, you have the feeling he can score. It\u2019s difficult to find both the movement and after being like a knife.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It had been billed as Erling Haaland\u2019s grand comeback to the Manchester City starting XI. Perhaps there could be a shootout with Ivan Toney, the Brentford striker, who is also \u00adre-establishing himself after rather longer on the sidelines in the wake of his betting ban. For a while, there was the \u00adglimmer that Neal Maupay […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":35007,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6409,3295],"tags":[285,7953,8348,6734,7034,8952,7717,8927,9331,10739,6310,8854,746,6159,7090,1966,8137,9606,500,10864,11268,3874,197,11743,12791,11252,501,12287,12187,11973,4082,9605,13256,10917,9036,267,13301,11604,8708,8160,1364,11259,9271,6571,10415,36,5248,594,7898,9294],"class_list":["post-41500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-world-sport","tag-arsenal","tag-attacker","tag-ban","tag-basketball","tag-bernardo-silva","tag-blast","tag-brentford","tag-christian","tag-city","tag-display","tag-erling-haaland","tag-explosion","tag-feel","tag-fire","tag-games","tag-guardiola","tag-haaland","tag-julian-alvarez","tag-kevin-de-bruyne","tag-knife","tag-kyle","tag-lead","tag-liverpool","tag-majority","tag-manager","tag-manchester","tag-manchester-city","tag-movement","tag-n","tag-one","tag-pep-guardiola","tag-phil-foden","tag-players","tag-poor","tag-pounds","tag-premier-league","tag-results","tag-rodri","tag-ruben-dias","tag-saudi","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-shot","tag-sky","tag-white","tag-work","tag-world","tag-world-cup","tag-who","tag-xi","tag-yellow-card"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41500"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41501,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41500\/revisions\/41501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}