Manchester City close the gap on Arsenal in the Premier League standings
Erling Haaland netted a brace
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Erling Haaland scored twice as Manchester City beat Crystal Palace 3-0 to cut Arsenal's lead at the top of the Premier League table back to two points.
Having seen the Gunners snatch a dramatic 2-1 victory over bottom club Wolves on Saturday, City arrived at Selhurst Park five points adrift in the title race.
And they came under plenty of pressure against their FA Cup conquerors, with Yeremy Pino and Adam Wharton striking the woodwork in either half for Oliver Glasner's hosts.
But Haaland opened the scoring with a downward header from Matheus Nunes' pinpoint cross after 41 minutes, capping a flowing, 25-pass move from Pep Guardiola's men.
If City's first goal was all about the collective, their second resulted from two moments of individual genius. Rayan Cherki darted between Wharton and Will Hughes before timing his offload to perfection, with Phil Foden then picking out the bottom-right corner from 20 yards.
And there was still time for the visitors to add a third goal, as substitute Savinho raced clear and was tripped by Dean Henderson less than three minutes after coming on.
Haaland neglected to take a penalty in City's 1-0 Wembley defeat to Palace in May, with Omar Marmoush being denied by Henderson. But on this occasion, the Norwegian took the ball and calmly sent the Eagles' goalkeeper the wrong way.
Data Debrief: Foden on fire as City's patience pays off
City had to be patient on Sunday, only managing four touches in Palace's box during the first half. They have only had fewer in three Premier League matches under Guardiola – three each, versus Arsenal in September 2025, Manchester United in March 2020 and Liverpool in December 2016.
And the same applied to the move that led to their opener. The 25 passes that preceded Haaland's header were the most for a City goal in the Premier League since Rodri netted versus West Ham on the final day of 2023-24, as they wrapped up the title (31).
City's second goal, meanwhile, saw Foden score in four consecutive Premier League matches (six goals in total) for the second time in his career, having also done so in January 2025.
Only Kevin De Bruyne (30), Sergio Aguero (21) and Yaya Toure (16) have now scored more Premier League goals from outside the box for Man City than Foden (12 – level with Carlos Tevez).
Foden's eight goals from outside the box since the start of 2023-24, meanwhile, have only been bettered by Kylian Mbappe's 24 across Europe's top five leagues.
