Manchester City erased another early deficit on the back of Erling Haaland’s brace to beat Brentford 2-1 at Etihad Stadium on Saturday and make it four wins from four games to start the 2024-25 Premier League season.
WATCH MANCHESTER CITY v BRENTFORD FULL MATCH REPLAY
Haaland narrowly missed out on a third straight hat trick — a feat unseen in the English top flight since 1946 — with a handful of chances to put the game away late on. Alas, the four-time defending PL champions got it over the line and even welcomed Rodri back into the team in the second half.
Brentford had the lead less than 25 seconds after kickoff, as the Bees took the ball from the kickoff, frantically passed and chased it down to City’s end of the field, lobbed a cross deep into the box and just waited for chaos to ensue. It did, as Ederson and John Stones made a halfhearted attempt at Keane Lewis-Potter’s header. The ball bounced bounded into the air and made its way to Yoane Wissa for a free header at the back post.
It was all Brentford for the first 10-15 minutes, and Thomas Frank’s side was perhaps a bit unlucky to not get a second goal during the spell. Of course, you will always pay for that against Manchester City. Haaland got a bit of help from a deflection off Ethan Pinnock on his first goal in the 19th minute, and the big Norwegian used sheer strength and speed to get the best of Pinnock again in the 32nd minute, which turned out to be the winning goal.
Erling Haaland keeps up his record-breaking pace
That’s nine goals in four games (2.25 goals per game) for Haaland this season, putting him on pace for 85 goals, and for once the early-season projection doesn’t seem so farfetched. After just four games, he is already 25 percent of the way to tying his own single-season goal record, which he put at 36 in his debut season. There’s not much else to say about Haaland (or Man City) at this point, other than to remind everyone that what we are witnessing is not in any way normal and we should enjoy it as much as we can, because we might never see a guy like this again in our lifetimes.
Player ratings - Man City vs Brentford
Manchester City vs Brentford live updates - by Andy Edwards
Man City vs Brentford final score: 2-1
Goalscorers: Yoane Wissa (1'), Erling Haaland (20', 32')
GOAL! Man City 2-1 Brentford: Erling Haaland gets in behind and puts the champs ahead (32')
GOAL! Man City 1-1 Brentford: Erling Haaland equalizes off a deflection (20')
GOAL! Man City 0-1 Brentford: Yoane Wissa scores with the opening attack of the game (1')
Man City starting lineup
Ederson - Walker, Stones, Akanji - Lewis, Kovacic, De Bruyne, Gundogan - Savinho, Grealish, Haaland
Brentford starting lineup
Flekken - Ajer, Van den Berg, Pinnock, Collins - Norgaard, Janelt, Damsgaard - Mbeumo, Wissa, Lewis-Potter
How to watch Manchester City vs Brentford live, stream link and start time
Kick off time: 10am ET Saturday
Venue: Etihad Stadium
TV Channel: Peacock Premium
Streaming: Premier League on Peacock
Manchester City focus, team news
Haaland is flying and is doing so despite two-straight matches without Phil Foden. Rodri is yet to make his Premier League debut this season, and the Citizens have Inter Milan in the UCL in Wednesday before a huge PL visit from Arsenal.
OUT: Oscar Bobb (lower leg), Nathan Ake (thigh) | QUESTIONABLE: Phil Foden (illness), Savinho (knee), Erling Haaland (personal)
Brentford focus, team news
The Bees have shown no signs of slowing down without Toney, as Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo continue to impress and goalkeeper Mark Flekken improved as last season went along.
OUT: Josh Dasilva (knee), Rico Henry (knee), Aaron Hickey (thigh), Igor Thiago (knee), Gustavo Nunes (lower back), Mathias Jensen (calf).
Manchester City vs Brentford prediction
The Bees can buzz against nearly any team, and City had a lot of busy players during the international window. But Pep Guardiola’s got depth to spare. Even with rotation, there’s reason to expect a home win. Man City 2-0 Brentford.