Manchester City snatched the lead in the English Football League, led by its historic Norwegian striker Erling Haaland, who contributed to his team’s victory over its guest West Ham 3-0, Wednesday, in a postponed match from stage 28.

Haaland wrote his name in golden letters in the Premier League records alone with the absolute record for the number of goals scored in one season in the league, by scoring his 35th goal and the second for his team 2-0 in the 71st minute after a pass from Jack Grealish, breaking the previous record he scored in a season of 42 stages. Instead of the current formula (38), Andy Cole with Newcastle in the 1993-1994 season and Alan Shearer with Blackburn in the following season (34 goals each).
"I don't think about all these records, I'm going crazy," Haaland said.

"I will go home now, play some video games, eat and then go to sleep," he added.

Haaland only needed 31 matches to enter history from its widest gates, and lead his team to the top with 79 points, one point ahead of Arsenal, with another postponed match in his sleeve, which makes him the favorite to retain the title.

The 22-year-old striker raised the number of his goals in various competitions to 51 this season, becoming the first player to achieve this feat since 1931.

And we must go back to the 1966-1967 season in order to find the most prolific scorer in one season in the elite, which is Welshman Ron Davis with Southampton (37 goals).

And Haaland is still far from the historic record for the number of goals in the English Premier League of all time achieved by the legendary Everton striker Dixie Dean with 60 goals in the 1927-1928 season (42 stages).

And City confirmed the difficulty of overcoming it in its fortress, the “Al-Ittihad” stadium, as it won all 13 matches that it played this season in various competitions. He scored 47 goals and conceded only 6.

City, who reached the semi-finals of the Champions League competition, where it plays against Real Madrid, is living a golden period, as it won 14 of its last 15 matches on the local scene, whether in the league or in cup matches, and it also achieved 9 successive victories in the Premier League.

For its part, West Ham reached the quarter-finals of the Conference League competition against Dutch club AZ Alkmaar, knowing that it is struggling in the fifteenth place, with a difference of only 4 points from the first relegated, after suffering its third loss against City in a row after falling to Liverpool 1-2 and then to Crystal Palace 3 -4.

Spanish City coach Pep Guardiola made 3 changes compared to the 2-1 victory over Fulham in the last stage. He replaced German goalkeeper Stefan Ortega instead of Brazilian Ederson, Dutch defender Nathan Ake and Portuguese midfielder Bernardo Silva instead of Swiss Manuel Akanji and German Ilkay Gundogan. And the absence of Belgian Kevin De Bruyne continued due to injury.

City collided with the organized defense of West Ham, without being able to find solutions similar to the image of its striker Haaland, who remained silent without danger (he got only 9 balls) and without being in a dangerous position despite the defending champions owning the ball by 80 percent. percent.

Spaniard Rodri almost opened the scoring, but his ball hit the post of former Arsenal goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski (32), noting that the latter blocked a shot by Algerian Riyad Mahrez 9 minutes after the first whistle.

City did not wait long to make their fans happy, after the Dutch unobserver Ake, returning from injury in his first league goal this season, opened the scoring at the start of the second half with a header after a cross pass into the area from Mahrez (50).
And after Haaland's historic goal in the 71st minute, substitute Phil Foden concluded his team's review with a wonderful shot "on the fly" from outside the area, which hit the foot of Italian defender Emerson and hit the net (85).

With the final whistle, Guardiola asked all of his players to salute Haaland in front of his father, the former City player between 2000 and 2003 Alfie, who was in the stands.

"In football, when there is a special occasion, we have to show how special it is," the Spanish coach said.
And he added, "We are very happy for him because it is a pleasure to work with him and be with him, and everyone is happy to have him with us. The record will be broken in the future, perhaps through him."

At “Anfield”, Liverpool achieved its fifth successive victory, and came at the expense of Fulham 1-0, to consolidate its fifth position qualifying for the European League “Europa League” next season, while it seems difficult for it to compete for a seat in the Champions League competition, as it is 4 behind. Points from Manchester United, who finished fourth and last, qualifying for the main continental competition, and the latter played two fewer matches.

Liverpool missed many of its elements, most notably Brazilian Firmino, Guinean Naby Keita and Spaniard Thiago Alcantara.
And after he started the match pressing, Liverpool retreated in front of the attempts of the Brazilian striker Carlos Vinicius and the coherent defensive line of his guest Fulham, before the Egyptian Mohamed Salah opened the scoring before the break with his 18th goal this season in the league, after he successfully converted a penalty kick that the Uruguayan Darwin Nunes got after a mistake. French defender Issa Diop hit a deceptive ball that hit German goalkeeper Bernd Leno (39).