sport news Man City's 5-1 win over Wolves felt like a staging post in a title procession - ... trends now
Gary O’Neil, the Wolverhampton Wanderers manager, was serving a one-match touchline suspension at The Etihad. As he sat in the relative anonymity of the stands, watching his side being demolished by Erling Haaland, O’Neil may have reflected that it was probably the best place to be.
City were simply majestic as they swept Wolves aside 5-1. If they were feeling any pressure after Arsenal had beaten Bournemouth earlier in the day to move into a four-point lead at the top of the table, they did not show it. There was no sign of nerves at all. If anything, they seemed even more relaxed than usual.
The truth? This felt like a carnival. It felt like a staging post in a title procession. It felt like the kind of occasion that takes place when a team has already won the title, not when it is in the midst of a fierce fight with Arsenal.
Before the game, some young kids took part in one of the rondos with the substitutes during City’s warm-up. David Silva, a City legend, came back to the club for the first time since his departure and was introduced to the adoring crowd. It was a celebration a few weeks before the denouement.
It felt as if City knew something we don’t. We suspect it, I suppose. We suspect they are going to ease to that unprecedented fourth title by winning their final three games away at Fulham and Tottenham and at home to West Ham. City played like it is already a done deal.
Erling Haaland demolished Wolves as Manchester City played with supreme confidence
Gary O’Neil sat in relative anonymity in the stands while serving a one-match touchline ban
There was no arrogance about it. Just utter self-assurance. City have been here before. They know what it feels like and they know what it takes to get the job done and they are setting about doing it with supreme confidence.
The jewel in their crown against Wolves was Haaland. How could it not be? He may have had a ‘quiet’ season, comparatively, after the 52 goals he scored in all competitions on the way to the Treble last season.
But the four goals he scored against O’Neil’s wilting team moved him up to 25 league strikes for this season and all but assured him of the Golden Boot for the second season in succession. Cole Palmer and Alexander Isak are five goals behind him. They will not catch him now.
Haaland was irresistible. Phil Foden, newly crowned as the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year, was irresistible, too. Wolves couldn’t cope with either of them. Haaland towered above the opposition, literally and figuratively. He summoned a prodigious leap to score a header, sandwiched between two penalties, and then finished things off with a brilliant curling shot from 25 yards.
What was it that Roy Keane called him? A League Two player? He didn’t look like a League 2 player against Wolves. He looked like a Rolls Royce of a centre forward, a centre forward who has got every gift in a centre forward’s armoury. That includes an insatiable hunger for goals. He
