Manchester City 2, Brentford 1
Erling Haaland’s brace earned Manchester City victory against Brentford after the Bees threatened a shock with a goal in the first minute.
Haaland hit two in reply and had several chances to complete a hat trick of hat tricks for City but will instead have to settle for 9 goals from 4 Premier League games – a new record at the start of a season.
It was an amazing return for a player who only yesterday declared himself ready to play after a close family friend Ivar Eggja – a man he called ‘uncle’ passed away this week.
Brentford were the last team to win at the Etihad – beating City 2-1 in November 2022 – and they looked like they might be pulling off another shock less than two years later.
The Bees took the lead after just 22 seconds after a terrible mixup in defence between John Stones and Ederson saw a poor clearance reach Yoane Wissa.
It was the fastest ever goal scored in the Premier League against the reigning Champions.
Embed from Getty ImagesCity were in disarray with the midfield of Ilkay Gundogan and Mateo Kovacic misfiring.
Bryan Mbeumo could have doubled Brentford’s lead but for a clearance by Rico Lewis while Wissa was denied by Ederson coming out of his area and Mbeumo’s overhead kick didn’t connect in a calamitous opening ten minutes for City which the Bees dominated.
City were finally level after 20 minutes, with his 8th goal of the season, after Kyle Walker squared the ball to De Bruyne who slipped the ball to the big Norwegian who did the rest from close range with a little help from a deflection off a Brentford defender.
Ederson thwarted the Bees repeatedly and saved at the feet of Kristoffer Ajer as Brentford immediately looked to stun City again, City for all their efforts to get back into the game were being exposed on the break by the visitors as they tried to get into the lead.
A massive Ederson lofted pass upfield to Erling Haaland was misjudged by Ethan Pinnock who could not recover and the big Norwegian raced clear and lifted the ball over Mark Flekken to put City into the lead with his 99th goal for the club in only 103 appearances.
Christian Norgaard intercepted a square pass for the tap in from Jack Grealish to Savinho.
And Savinho’s powerful shot was bravely blocked by Nathan Collins soon afterwards as City tightened their grip on the game.
Kevin Schade replaced the injured Wissa just before half time while Pep Guardiola made a pair of changes at the break with Josko Gvardiol and Rodri replacing Rico Lewis and Mateo Kovacic.
Keane Lewis-Potter shot wide after another counter attack caught City out but the Champions slowly worked themselves back up to speed with chances from Grealish, Haaland, and Gundogan blocked while Walker’s dipping shot went wide.
Grealish released Gvardiol for a buccaneering run which took him into the area and a forest of Brentford defenders – he laid off the ball to Savinho whose shot was blocked.
The Brazilian had another chance soon afterwards when he skipped inside past 4 defenders but his shot was wide.
And Haaland’s eyes lit up when he was released by De Bruyne only for Sepp van de Berg to nick the ball off him before he could get it under control with just Flekken to beat.
Haaland hit the post and efforts cleared by Collins and saved by Flekken as he got ever closer to the hat trick.
But time ran out as City decided to hold on for the win although it came at a cost with Savinho seemingly holding his hamstring in injury time but which Guardiola declared was just cramp.
PLAYER RATINGS – Manchester City 2, Brentford 1
Ederson: 8. Came for the ball but didn’t get it to concede the opening goal but kept Brentford at bay after that. Exposed by the pace of Wissa and had to come off his line to clear away another chance for the nippy striker. Great save on the line to keep Nathan Collins shot out while he beat Ethan Pinnock in the air to a corner and had to tip a header from the Brentford man over his bar. Massive punt upfield set up Erling Haaland for City’s second goal. Saved from Keane Lewis-Potter to keep City in the lead at the end of the first half.
Kyle Walker: 6. Could have done better on the first goal, looked rusty going forward.
John Stones: 6. Poor clearance led to the opening Brentford goal. Still committed to playing in midfield though.
Manuel Akanji: 6. In danger of being overwhelmed early on until City steadied the ship but had problems with Kevin Schade.
Rico Lewis: 6. Cleared the ball when Brentford looked to go 2-0 up.
Mateo Kovacic: 6. Deep lying midfielder bypassed by Brentford. Took out Yoane Wissa in the first half and got a booking for his troubles.
Kevin De Bruyne: 6. Set up Erling Haaland for the equaliser and saw a long range shot go wide, tried hard to get City going.
Ilkay Gundogan: 6. Tried to lend City some sense of order after a poor start by his standards.
Savinho: 6. Gave City width down the right – had a couple of chances to score. Looked to have picked up a hamstring injury in added time.
Jack Grealish: 6. Kept hold of the ball to steady the City ship. Gave Brentford things to think about down the left and almost set up a goal for City but for a last ditch interception by Christian Norgaard. Had his chances but for blocks or saves.
Erling Haaland: 8. Scored the equaliser after some great build up play and then lifted a second over Mark Flekken to hit 99 goals in 103 games for City (72 in 70 Premier League games) and beat the Premier League scoring record set after 4 games in the 2011/12 season by Wayne Rooney. Battled with Sepp van den Berg as he tried to get a third hat trick in a row and had plenty of chances blocked.
Josko Gvardiol (on for Rico Lewis, 46): 6. Added extra defensive physicality but also did some surging runs too.
Rodri (on for Mateo Kovacic, 46): 6. His name was cheered by the Etihad crowd after he got his first minutes of the season but he looked like a player who has had a long holiday at times.
Bernardo Silva (on for Jack Grealish, 84): No time to mark.
Ruben Dias (on for John Stones, 84): No time to mark
Matheus Nunes (on for Savinho, 90+3): No time to mark
GOALS – Manchester City 2, Brentford 1
Man City 0, Brentford 1: 1. 22 seconds after Keane Lewis-Potter’s cross went across the face of goal and John Stones half cleared the ball with Ederson diving in vain for it before Yoane Wissa stunned the Etihad into silence with the opening goal after just a few seconds.
Man City 1, Brentford 1: 20. Kyle Walker squared the ball to De Bruyne who slipped the ball to the big Norwegian who did the rest from close range with a little help from a deflection off a Brentford defender. His 98th goal in 103 appearances for City.
Man City 2, Brentford 1: 32. Ethan Pinnock lost the flight of a high ball up to Erling Haaland and the big Norwegian pounced, running clear of the Brentford man before lifting the ball over Mark Flekken for his 99th City goal.
MATCH STATS – Manchester City 2, Brentford 1
Man City: Ederson, Walker (C), Stones, Akanji, Lewis (Gvardiol 46), Kovacic (Rodri 46), De Bruyne, Gundogan, Savinho (Nunes 90+3), Grealish (Bernardo Silva 84), Haaland
Man City Subs not used: Ortega, Dias, Doku, Nunes, Foden, McAtee
Bookings: Kovacic 42 (foul on Yoane Wissa); Savinho 47 (foul on Kristoffer Ajer); Stones 79 (foul on Fabio Carvalho)
Goals: Haaland 20, 32
Brentford: Flekken, Janelt (Carvalho 72), Pinnock, van den Berg, Collins, Damsgaard (Yarmolyuk 84), Norgaard (C), Ajer (Roerslev 72), Lewis-Potter, Wissa (Schade 45+1), Mbeumo
Brentford Subs not used: Valdimarsson, Mee, Meghoma, Konak, Trevitt
Bookings: Collins 82 (foul on Rodri)
Goal: Wissa 1
Referee: Darren Bond