MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Erin Haaland scored his first Premier League hat-trick as Manchester City beat Crystal Palace 4-2 on Saturday after being two goals down.
Manchester City were 2-0 down with just 21 minutes to play against Palace – who hoped last season in Ahmedabad – after an own goal by John Stones and a header by Joachim Anderson. Tihad Stadium won 2-0.
It was the fourth of City’s last six Premier League games to be two goals behind, but Guardiola’s side have not lost any of their first three games and have continued to win this game in style.
Haaland took over his first home goal for Manchester City after Bernardo Silva pulled one back in the eighth minute of the second half. In his first four Premier League games, he has scored six goals in 20 minutes.
Patrick Vieira was forced to name the starting 11 without Wilfried Zaha due to injury, but the star striker’s absence didn’t stop Crystal Palace from taking an early lead as Eberechi Zee’s free-kick hit Kyle Walker and Stones and the ball spun into the net.
Things got worse for City in the 22nd minute. It was Eze’s corner again, and Andersen headed the goal unmarked.
Guardiola had planned to make two substitutions early in the second half, with Ilkay Gundogan and Julian Alvarez both stripped and ready to play, but after Silva put City back on the pitch in the 53rd minute , they sat down.
The Portugal international cuts in from the right before a low shot misses Jeffrey Schlupp.
Gundogan and Alvarez did come on an hour later, and Alvarez quickly made an impact as City levelled in the 62nd. He threw a deep pass to Phil Foden, who returned the ball to Haaland, who headed past Marc Guehi for his first Etiha German goal.
Eight minutes later, he had a second. From a short corner, Alvarez fed the ball to Silva, who pulled it back to Stones, who rolled it past Haaland to poke home from a yard.
Haaland scored a hat-trick with 10 minutes remaining. Silva’s through ball found his run perfectly and the Norwegian was able to stop Joel Ward before firing into the corner.
City now have 10 points from four games and Palace have four points left.
___
More AP Sports: https://apnews.com/hub/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
