Man City 5-1 Wolves: Player ratings as Haaland scores four to send title message

Erling Haaland was at his outrageous best on Saturday evening as he racked up four goals to steer Manchester City to a 5-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Needing three points to keep pace with Arsenal after the Gunners beat Bournemouth earlier in the day, City played like a team immune to pressure, dominating the visitors as Haaland completed his hat-trick before half-time.

Hwang Hee-chan threatened to spark a comeback early in the second half but Haaland silenced Wolves with a stunning fourth and Julian Alvarez added a fifth late on to keep City in the driver's seat in the Premier League title race.

How the game unfolded

City had a few half-sights of goal in the opening stages but were gifted the chance to open the scoring after ten minutes when Josko Gvardiol was sent crashing to the ground in the penalty area by Rayan Ait-Nouri.

Haaland stepped up and made no mistake from 12 yards to give City the lead their early efforts deserved.

Jose Sa was needed to make an excellent save to stop Haaland from heading a second a few minutes later, but the Norwegian came out on top with another aerial effort 35 minutes in which arrowed into the back of the net.

A VAR check on the stroke of half-time handed Haaland the chance to secure his hat-trick from the spot. Nelson Semedo's trip on the City striker was eventually spotted and punished as Haaland bagged yet another triple against Wolves.

Eight minutes into the second half, Wolves snatched one back as Hwang slotted into an empty net after Ederson failed to deal with a cross.

Unhappy with the idea of sharing the spotlight, Haaland went straight down the other end, cut inside his defender and curled home a beautiful effort to mark the first time he has scored more than three goals in a Premier League game.

Sa tipped another Haaland effort over the bar soon after as City simply refused to lie down, but there would be no fifth goal for the star of the show, who was visibly frustrated to see himself withdrawn late in the game.

Haaland's replacement continued where he left off, however, as Alvarez slotted home with five minutes to go to cap a five-star performance from Pep Guardiola's outfit.

Man City player ratings (4-2-3-1)

GK: Ederson - 5/10 - Largely uninvolved but should have done so much better with the cross for Hwang's goal.

RB: Kyle Walker - 6/10 - Not tested defensively and didn't need to bust a gut to make an impact in attack either, but he did pull out the occasional stunning pass.

CB: Manuel Akanji - 7/10 - So comfortable at the back and even took the chance to involve himself in midfield as well.

CB: Nathan Ake - 6/10 - Impressed in the first half but was caught sleeping early in the second when Wolves got their goal.

LB: Josko Gvardiol - 8/10 - A relentless force down the left wing. Won the first penalty early on and simply did not stop trying to create more goals.

DM: Rodri - 9/10 - Dominated the midfield battle and picked out some excellent passes to ensure City's relentless pressure never faded. Walked away with two assists.

DM: Mateo Kovacic - 7/10 - One or two delightful passes to keep City ticking in the final third.

RM: Bernardo Silva - 7/10 - Just kept coming time and time again. His energy was simply too much for Wolves to deal with.

AM: Kevin De Bruyne - 6/10 - Surprisingly quiet in a game which City ruthlessly dominated. His final pass wasn't there.

LM: Phil Foden - 7/10 - Didn't get into this game as much as you would have expected but still dazzled with a lovely pass for Haaland's fourth goal.

ST: Erling Haaland - 11/10 - Ruthless. Relentless. This was Haaland at his terrifying best.

Substitutes

SUB: John Stones (69' for Ake) - 6/10

SUB: Jeremy Doku (80' for Silva) - N/A

SUB: Jack Grealish (80' for Foden) - N/A

SUB: Matheus Nunes (80' for De Bruyne) - N/A

SUB: Julian Alvarez (83' for Haaland) - N/A

Subs not used: Stefan Ortega (GK), Ruben Dias, Sergio Gomez, Rico Lewis

Manager

Pep Guardiola - 9/10 - This was emphatic. Guardiola wanted everyone to know City are still the favourites to win this title, and he set his side up to ruthlessly pick apart Wolves.

Wolves player ratings (3-5-2)

GK: Jose Sa - 6/10 - Could do nothing about any of the goals. Even made a handful of good saves to stop this from getting embarrassing.

CB: Nelson Semedo - 4/10 - Couldn't get near City's forward line. Tried to chase Haaland down for the second penalty but ended up tripping him.

CB: Max Kilman - 3/10 - Chasing shadows as City's technicians picked their way around him. Looked to simply leave Haaland for his second goal.

CB: Toti Gomes - 4/10 - Tried to get things going from the back but usually just invited trouble for himself.

RM: Rayan Ait-Nouri - 5/10 - Perhaps a little unfortunate to concede the early penalty but didn't give a great account of himself here.

CM: Joao Gomes - 6/10 - Some decent moments to try get Wolves into the game but was overrun by Rodri and Kovacic.

CM: Mario Lemina - 5/10 - Did his best to try and keep up but picked up a yellow card just before half-time.

CM: Boubacar Traore - 4/10 - Found it particularly tough up against Rodri and Kovacic, whose experience was clearly too much for him.

LM: Hugo Bueno - 4/10 - Offered nothing in attack and instead tried to focus on defending, but was given the run-around by Silva.

ST: Hwang Hee-chan - 5/10 - Clearly put the effort in and was rewarded when the ball dropped to his feet early in the second half.

ST: Matheus Cunha - 4/10 - Felt even more starved of service than Hwang.

Substitutes

SUB: Jean-Ricner Bellegarde (46' for Lemina) - 7/10

SUB: Tawanda Chirewa (87' for Hwang) - N/A

Subs not used: Daniel Bentley (GK), Matt Doherty, Santiago Bueno, Wesley Okoduwa, Enso Gonzalez, Nathan Fraser, Pablo Sarabia

Manager

Tim Jenkins - 2/10 - Gary O'Neil's stand-in will be keen to wipe this one from his memory. Wolves offered nothing here, but few teams would have been able to keep up with City in this sort of form.

Player of the match - Erling Haaland (Man City)

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