The goals just keep flowing for Erling Haaland and Manchester City, no matter the competition. (More Football News)
Erling Haaland bagged another hat trick to make it eight goals in his last two games as City eased into the FA Cup semifinals with a 6-0 home win over Championship side Burnley on Saturday.
The goals just keep flowing for Erling Haaland and Manchester City, no matter the competition. (More Football News)
Haaland bagged another hat trick to make it eight goals in his last two games as City eased into the FA Cup semifinals with a 6-0 home win over Championship side Burnley on Saturday. That came on the heels of a 7-0 win over Leipzig on Tuesday in the Champions League 바카라” when Haaland netted five 바카라” showing that City may be hitting another gear as it enters the decisive part of the season.
It was City바카라™s sixth straight win in all competitions, having scored 23 goals in that stretch.
바카라śWe are in that part of the season where we should be at our best,바카라ť said Haaland, whose extraordinary tally is now at 42 goals in all competitions. 바카라śNow is when things get decided.바카라ť
City is still in the hunt for three trophies, but while Pep Guardiola바카라™s team are the big favorites in the FA Cup they may need to maintain this kind of form to win the other two. They face Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarterfinals next month, and could go into the international break eight points behind Arsenal in the Premier League if the Gunners beat Crystal Palace at home on Sunday.
That바카라™s a minor worry, though, compared to the headache facing Antonio Conte at Tottenham Hotspur.
Conte tore into his players for being 바카라śselfish바카라ť and launched a tirade against the club바카라™s lack of winning mentality after his team threw away a 3-1 lead to draw 3-3 at last-place Southampton.
That result cost Tottenham a chance to climb provisionally into third place, and made things even tighter in an increasingly intriguing relegation fight that involves no less than nine teams. Only four points now separate 12th-place Palace and Southampton at the bottom of the table.
One win was enough for Leeds to climb from 19th up to 14th after beating Wolverhampton 4-2 away, while Leicester remained firmly entrenched in the relegation struggle despite halting a five-game losing streak in all competitions with a 1-1 draw at Brentford.
That keeps Leicester just one point above the drop zone 바카라” and two points ahead of Southampton 바카라” while midtable Aston Villa made it three wins in four games with a 3-0 victory over relegation-threatened Bournemouth.
In the late game, 15th-place Everton twice came from behind to draw 2-2 at Chelsea.
HAALAND HAT TRICK
The buildup to Burnley바카라™s visit to the Etihad had all been about its manager Vincent Kompany, the former City captain who already has a statue outside the stadium after winning 10 major trophies with the club.
Haaland may get his own statue before his playing career is even over if he keeps scoring at this rate.
The prolific Norwegian scored his first two goals in a three-minute span shortly after the half-hour mark and completed his hat trick by slotting in a rebound in the 59th.
World Cup winner Julian Alvarez also scored twice while the 20-year-old Cole Palmer got on the scoresheet as Burnley바카라™s resistance collapsed over the last 30 minutes.
Gary Lineker was back on the air to spearhead the BBC바카라™s coverage of the game after being suspended last week for criticizing the U.K. government바카라™s migration policy.
The other three quarterfinals are played Sunday, with Manchester United hosting Fulham in the most notable matchup.
CONTE TIRADE
After seeing his players throw away a two-goal lead, Conte did little to quell the speculation that he바카라™s already looking for a way out of the club.
바카라śI see a lot of selfish players. And I don바카라™t see a team,바카라ť the Italian manager said after James Ward-Prowse바카라™s injury-time penalty earned Southampton the draw.
And he wasn바카라™t done there, adding that Tottenham바카라™s lack of a winning mentality is deeply rooted within a club whose last trophy came in 2008.
바카라śThey are used to it. They don바카라™t play for something important, yeah,바카라ť Conte said. 바카라śThey don바카라™t want to play under pressure, they don바카라™t want to play under stress. It is easy in this way. Tottenham바카라™s story is this. Twenty years there is the (same) owner and they never won something.바카라ť
Conte won league titles at Juventus, Inter Milan and Chelsea, but will finish a second season at Tottenham without a trophy. It바카라™s looking increasingly unlikely that he바카라™ll be back for a third.
CHELSEA STUMBLES
After showing signs of momentum under Graham Potter, Chelsea had another setback against Everton.
The London club바카라™s three-game winning streak in all competitions came to a halt as Abdoulaye Doucoure scored the first equalizer and set up the second for substitute Ellis Simms in the 89th minute.
It was Simms바카라™ first goal for Everton but he showed both composure and confidence as he held off a defender and beat goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga with a low shot from a tight angle to silence the Stamford Bridge crowd.
바카라śWe thought we played well enough to get the three points but ultimately if you don바카라™t defend well, you don바카라™t get the result,바카라ť Potter said.