Haaland scored twice, Man City crushed Southampton

Haaland returned after three weeks of convalescence, immediately scoring in the 45th minute to open the scoring for the visitors. From Kevin de Bruyne's cross on the left, the 23-year-old striker slipped behind the home defender's back and headed close to the wall to knock out goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu.

Haaland's second goal was even more impressive, coming from Man City's quick counter-attack. De Bruyne crosses to the left for Jack Grealish to charge up in a two-on-two phase. The English midfielder hung up for Haaland to receive the ball in a slightly open position. However, the Norwegian striker could still lean over and hook the ball over his head to the far corner to raise the score to 3-0.

Immediately after this goal, Haaland left the field to make room for Julian Alvarez, to keep his strength against Bayern in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday night. He has scored 10 goals in the last 195 minutes of play in three matches, a performance of less than 20 minutes a goal.

In the last four matches in all competitions, Haaland also scored 11 goals, averaging nearly three goals per game. Had he not left the field early, he could have scored a hat-trick because Man City was also awarded a penalty in the 74th minute, after Kyle Walker-Peters fell De Bruyne in the home penalty area. It was Alvarez who took the penalty in the middle of the goal to score the fourth goal for Man City.

Despite not scoring a hat-trick, Haaland still managed to reach 30 goals in the Premier League this season, after 27 matches. His number of goals is even more than the entire Chelsea team, after round 30. In all competitions, he has scored 44 goals in just 37 games.

Man City struggled against Southampton for most of the first half, but Haaland's goal made it much easier for the visitors to kick. In the 58th minute, De Bruyne passed into the left penalty area for Grealish to shoot, being pushed out by goalkeeper Bazunu. But it was Grealish who stepped in to help the visitors lead 2-0, marking two consecutive matches where he scored.

Southampton only recovered one goal in the 72nd minute, when Moussa Djenepo dribbled past four visitors and then crossed to clear the space for Sekou Mara to put the ball into the net. For the second match in a row, Man City won 4-1, to reduce the gap with Arsenal to five points. The top team will face more pressure, before being a guest at Anfield on Sunday, April 9.

Southampton: Bazunu, Walker-Peters, Bednarek, Bella-Kotchap, Maitland-Niles, Alcaraz (Djenepo 69), Ward-Prowse, Lavia (Diallo 80), Elyounoussi (S Armstrong 61), Walcott (Perraud 80), Sulemana (Mara) 69).

Man City: Ederson, Akanji, Dias, Ake (Gomez 81), Stones (Walker 57), Rodri (Philipps 81), Mahrez (Silva 56), De Bruyne, Gundogan, Grealish, Haaland (Alvarez 69).