Deep lying creator is an excellent Manchester City story and confirmed why he is England’s best left-back
It’s not over, not over, not over yet. Although, let’s be honest, it kind of is over. Isn’t it, don’t you think, at the end of a day when Manchester City and Arsenal dished up the one thing nobody was expecting at the Etihad Stadium, a thrillingly open game of attacking football?
There were three images at the final whistle that seemed to capture the essence of City’s 2-1 win here, and not just in terms of the game, but the balance of energy, feeling, vibes.
The first was the sight of Erling Haaland marching around on a rabble-rousing victory lap, golden tresses dangling free, evening sun glowing across his slabbed and rippling chest, like a beautiful mermaid goddess, but a mermaid goddess who only eats protein and natural milk and does 600 sit‑ups a day.
Haaland scored the winner, and in process confirmed his unicorn status in the Premier League as a pure goalscorer, miles out on his own on the numbers, the capocapocannonieri. At times he played like he’d accidentally wandered into a football match from a Nordic decathlon event next door. But in between he not only provided the decisive moment but also won the key physical duel with Gabriel Magalhães.
