If Man City are going to win the Premier League, all roads lead to Haaland

MANCHESTER, England -- The Premier League title race is on and it might end up with Erling Haaland overhauling Arsenal on his own to put Manchester City at the top of the pile at the end of the season.

The 25-year-old is now so dominant and so important to his team that he is approaching the same peerless level once occupied by Lionel Messi at Barcelona and Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid. They both avoided injuries and form slumps to drive their teams to glory, so can Haaland also carry City to success on his own?

Two more Haaland goals in a 3-1 home win against Bournemouth lifted City to second in the Premier League table, six points behind Mikel Arteta's Gunners, despite an unconvincing start to the campaign that has seen the Citizens already suffer three league defeats.

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But City's position in the table is unquestionably down to one player -- Haaland -- and his incredible ability to score goals. Bournemouth winger David Brooks said Haaland was unstoppable after seeing him race clear of his markers on two occasions to score.

"The big man up top for them -- Haaland -- is always going to be a threat," Brooks told Sky Sports.

"It's almost impossible [to prepare to face Haaland]. He's 6'5", strong, and a massive threat when the ball is falling to him. He took his chances well."

Haaland's first-half double against Andoni Iraola's team were the bedrock of City's win and they took his goal tally to 11 league goals, which is five more than Igor Thiago, Danny Welbeck, Antoine Semenyo and Jean-Philippe Mateta have managed so far in second place in the race for the Golden Boot.

And City have been so reliant on the Norway international's goals that their second leading scorer in the Premier League this season is Maxime Estève, the Burnley defender, following his two own goals in a 5-1 defeat at the Etihad in September.

It would be a wrong to label Guardiola's City a one-man team -- they have plenty of proven winners within the squad to rebut that suggestion -- but if you take Haaland out of Guardiola's side, it is difficult to imagine that they would be the team most likely to challenge Arsenal for the title.

"Without him [Haaland], it would be tough," Guardiola told reporters, with some understatement.

Manchester United relied heavily on the goals of Robin van Persie when Sir Alex Ferguson's side won the title in 2012-13 -- the former Arsenal forward scored 26 goals in 38 league games -- but Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernández also hit double figures in the league that season.

Cody Gakpo and Luis Díaz played the Rooney/Hernández role for the Reds by also hitting double figures. City? Right now, there is nobody even close to Haaland in terms of league goals.

Haaland has scored 11 of their 20 league goals. Phil Foden, Rayan Cherki and Tijjani Reijnders have one apiece, but forwards Savinho, Omar Marmoush and Jérémy Doku have yet to score in the league this season.

Does it matter? When Haaland is scoring and City are winning, it doesn't matter at all. But it is inconceivable that Haaland will play every game this season, especially after a busy summer that saw him play at FIFA Club World Cup and have a shortened break, so when he stops scoring or isn't playing, somebody will have to step up and fill the void.

But there is no Kevin De Bruyne anymore to step into the breach -- the former City captain is now with Napoli -- while Marmoush has been impacted by injuries, and Foden continues to search for the form that saw him score 19 league goals during the 2023-24 season.

Haaland's gift is his ability to turn good chances into certainties. His two goals, both breakaways with a deft finish, looked routine, but when Nico O'Reilly had an almost identical chance, he fluffed his lines and missed.

Greatness doesn't miss, but good players often do. Haaland is the definition of greatness.

When Marmoush replaced him on 82 minutes, it denied Haaland the opportunity to score a hat trick -- he already has 11 hat tricks for City -- but with former club Borussia Dortmund due at the Etihad in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday and champions Liverpool visiting City next Sunday, every minute of rest is a positive for Haaland.

And considering his importance to the team, Guardiola also needs to protect his star player and most productive goalscorer, because as long as Haaland stays fit and in form, City can win the title.