sport news Manchester City 3-0 Wolves: Erling Haaland's hat trick helps City close the gap ... trends now

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 How’s that for fire, Pep? Not a roaring Manchester City performance, rather warm enough to toast some marshmallows. Pleasant without becoming particularly wild.

And there are not too many teams you can describe as that after a comprehensive three-goal win, after their talisman scored a fourth hat-trick of the season and bears down on more records.

But then this is City and they possess a few extra logs to chuck on in reserve if needed. Guardiola – who heavily criticised the club’s hunger and desire to retain another title last week – will want those utilised when they schedule becomes packed with must-win games at home and abroad.

A good follow-up to the dramatics of Tottenham for starters, though. Wolves were dispatched with relative ease, their hope burnt out during a 14-minute spell either side of half time when Erling Haaland surpassed the totals of all Golden Boot winners since 2018. He has played 19 matches. Andrew Cole and Alan Shearer’s joint-record of 34 looks like it will fall to a man who operates in a division with two fewer teams in it.

City: still not at their best, Guardiola believing they are not even remotely close. His remarks on Thursday - that he wants more ‘passion’ from players and supporters, suggesting that City are crippled by complacency – were to provoke reactions.

A transparent ploy at this point, one used so many times during his seven years here. They always come after victories – Guardiola is always most critical after wins, never following defeats - and we all dutifully indulge it. Amazingly, it remains a tool that works with a squad full of quality and, in fairness, egos.

Whether it does long term will be fascinating. They took their time to take this away from Wolves, who aggressively stopped the likes of Rico Lewis in their tracks early to

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