Haaland penalty failure piles on woes for Man City

Manchester City’s Erling Haaland reacts after failing to attain a penalty shot in the course of the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Everton on the Etihad stadium in Manchester, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Rui Vieira)

Erling Haaland’s failure from the penalty spot and Bruno Fernandes’ newest purple card compounded the woes of Manchester City and Manchester United on one other robust day for the 2 Premier League giants.

There have been no such issues Thursday for Liverpool, which rallied to a 3-1 win over Leicester in foggy circumstances at Anfield and moved seven factors clear atop the standings approaching the midway level of the marketing campaign.

Article continues after this commercial

City dropped extra factors in its improbably poor run of type by drawing 1-1 at house to Everton, with Haaland having a spot kick saved by England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford within the 53rd minute.

READ: Guardiola adamant Man City droop not all about Haaland

The four-time defending champions have solely received certainly one of their final 13 video games in all competitions and supervisor Pep Guardiola acknowledged he must spend within the January switch window to reverse City’s slide.

“The transfer window in the winter is not easy, but even the players know that we have to add some new players,” mentioned Guardiola, who has needed to cope and not using a host of key gamers, together with Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, by way of harm this season.

Article continues after this commercial

While City is languishing in seventh place, United is even additional adrift in 14th place after a 2-0 loss at lowly Wolverhampton.

United performed virtually all the second half with 10 males after Fernandes collected his second yellow card within the forty seventh minute. It was the United captain’s third sending-off of the season, although one was rescinded.

After seeing second-place Chelsea additionally drop factors after conceding within the fifth minute of stoppage time to lose 2-1 at house to Fulham, Liverpool recovered from conceding within the sixth minute towards Leicester to increase its lead. Cody Gakpo, Curtis Jones and Mohamed Salah scored Liverpool’s targets.

Nottingham Forest received 1-0 towards Tottenham and is an enormous shock in third place.

City ache

City secured solely its fifth level within the league because the finish of October however that might be scant comfort to Guardiola, whose beleaguered group squandered a successful place after going forward by way of Bernardo Silva’s deflected shot within the 14th. Iliman Ndiaye equalized within the thirty sixth.

Haaland’s penalty failure means the Norway worldwide has solely scored as soon as in his final seven video games. He headed in from the rebound after his spot kick, however the purpose was dominated out for offside.

Haaland, who final week admitted his type had not been ok throughout a run that has seen City’s season unravel, held his head in his palms after his failure to attain from the spot. He nonetheless has 18 targets in 25 appearances this season, however has not scored in a win for his membership because the 1-0 victory towards Southampton on Oct. 26.

READ: Erling Haaland scores his a centesimal purpose for Manchester City

“We shoot a lot in the 18-yard box, but unfortunately we could not get the results that we wanted,” Guardiola mentioned.

City’s damaging run has seen it slip down the standings within the league and crash out of the English League Cup. Guardiola’s group can also be at risk of lacking out on qualifying within the Champions League — sitting only one level above the cut-off level with two video games left.

Goal from a nook

Wolves’ first purpose towards United got here direct from a nook, with Brazil striker Matheus Cunha seeing his kick curl over the top of goalkeeper Andre Onana and into the far nook within the 58th minute.

“I was shooting — we train to shoot,” Cunha mentioned.

Such targets are uncommon, although United additionally conceded from a nook in its 4-3 loss to Tottenham within the English League Cup this month. Son Heung-min scored on that event.

Wolves added a second by way of Hwang Hee-chan within the ninth minute of stoppage time and have received two straight video games since Vitor Pereira changed Gary O’Neil as supervisor. Cunha has 10 targets this season.

Salah scores once more

Salah moved three targets away from second-place Haaland within the race for the Golden Boot, his sixteenth of the marketing campaign finishing Liverpool’s restoration after Gakpo curled within the equalizer in first-half stoppage time and Jones made it 2-1 within the forty ninth.

Salah has scored not less than one purpose in 9 of his final 10 league matches, and has 19 targets in all competitions this season.

Liverpool is unbeaten in its final 20 matches in all competitions, the one defeat all season underneath new supervisor Arne Slot coming at house to Forest within the league in September.

“This year feels different,” Salah mentioned of Liverpool’s title possibilities, “but the most important thing is we need to stay humble.”

Chelsea droop

Chelsea has dropped factors in successive video games, after drawing 0-0 at Everton final week.

The Blues gave up a lead earned by Cole Palmer within the sixteenth as Harry Wilson equalized within the 82nd and Rodrigo Muniz grabbed a late winner for Fulham, which received at Stamford Bridge for the primary time in 45 years.

Arsenal can now bounce from fourth to second with a win towards Ipswich on Friday.

Forest wins once more

Forest’s outstanding season exhibits little signal of slowing after Anthony Elanga’s winner towards Tottenham on the City Ground. Forest is some extent behind Chelsea.

Aston Villa was already a purpose all the way down to Newcastle after Anthony Gordon’s strike within the second minute when Jhon Duran was despatched off within the thirty second. Alexander Isak and Joelinton added targets for the hosts in a 3-0 win.

West Ham had to deal with first-half accidents to defender Max Kilman and goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, however nonetheless received 1-0 at Southampton.