Haaland hat trick gives Man City early EPL lead over Arsenal

LONDON: At the rate Erling Haaland is scoring, keeping up with Manchester City is going to be a difficult task in the English Premier League.

So while it’s still only three games into the season, it felt significant when title rival Arsenal dropped points on Saturday and then saw City take full advantage thanks to another hat trick from Haaland.

The Norway striker netted his second treble in two games as City beat West Ham 3-1 to maintain its perfect start and move two points ahead of Arsenal, which was held 1-1 by Brighton after Declan Rice was sent off early in the second half.

“No words for him,” City manager Pep Guardiola said about Haaland, who has seven goals in three games to start the season and 70 in total in the 69 league games he has played for the club.

With eight Premier League hat tricks, Haaland has as many as Thierry Henry (258 games), Harry Kane (320) and Michael Owen (326) managed in their careers.