Erling Haaland marked his 100th Premier League goal on Tuesday as Manchester City edged Fulham 5-4 in a wild thriller that tightened the title race and tested City’s nerve to the final whistle.
The Norwegian star became the fastest player in league history to hit the century mark, smashing home his opener in the 17th minute to reach 100 goals in just 111 appearances – eclipsing Alan Shearer’s long-standing record of 124 games.
City appeared to be cruising at 5-1, but Fulham launched a furious late surge, pulling within a goal and nearly snatching a dramatic equalizer in stoppage time when Josh King’s shot was cleared off the line.
“It’s not good enough – and we all know it. We need to improve as a team,” Haaland told Sky Sports.
Newcastle twice blew the lead against Tottenham to draw 2-2 after Cristian Romero scored the second of his goals in the fifth minute of added time. Jack Grealish scored the only goal of the game as Everton beat Bournemouth 1-0.
City’s victory saw it close the gap on first-place Arsenal, which hosts Brentford on Wednesday. But it was another game in which the defensive frailties of Pep Guardiola’s team were laid bare.
City blew a two-goal halftime lead against Leeds on Saturday, needing a stoppage-time winner from Phil Foden to avoid dropping points.
It was a similar story against Fulham, as City led 3-1 at halftime, with Tijani Reijnders and Foden adding to Haaland’s goal, while Emile Smith Rowe pulled one back before the break.
Foden got his second early in the second half, and a Sander Berge own goal seemingly put City in total control with less than an hour gone.
That was until Fulham mounted a fightback.
Alex Iwobi got Fulham’s second with a low, curling effort from outside the box. Samuel Chukwueze then scored twice in the space of six minutes to set up a tense finale.
Josko Gvardiol produced the crucial clearance to seal City’s win.
“I know you’re going to ask what happened – I don’t have an answer. It’s the Premier League, right?” Guardiola said.
With an overhead kick deep into added time, Romero came to Tottenham’s rescue at St. James’ Park.
Newcastle took a 1-0 lead through Bruno Guimarães in the 71st minute after the home team had dominated the first half.
Romero leveled with a near-post header seven minutes later.
Newcastle led again in the 86th when Anthony Gordon converted from the penalty spot, but the drama wasn’t over yet.
Romero’s acrobatic effort stunned the home crowd and salvaged a point for Spurs, preventing their losing run from stretching to four games.
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe described the late equalizer as “heartbreaking.”
“We’ve had similar experiences this season in terms of not defending leads at the end of games, and that’s something we have to reflect on,” he said.
Everton bounced back from defeat to Newcastle on Saturday with the win at Bournemouth.
Grealish – on loan from Man City – scored his second of the season in the 78th minute.
