20 hours ago
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Manchester City were beaten 2-1 by Newcastle United in a thrilling Premier League game at St James' Park.
As Newcastle United fans wandered past the statue of Alan Shearer before kick-off at St James' Park, they would have been contemplating the unwanted irony of seeing one of the hero's goalscoring records snatched away in his own backyard.
A goal for Erling Haaland in the north east would have displaced Shearer as the fastest to 100 goals in Premier League history. It's a record that will fall to the Norwegian sooner rather than later - he has 14 games left to break it - but that he didn't take it here is, in large part, why Manchester City failed to pile the pressure on Arsenal ahead of the North London derby.
There will probably be a statue of Haaland outside the Etihad one day, but when he looks back on his City career, this will be a game he wants to forget. Three times he had the opportunity to achieve his Premier League century. Three times he failed to do it. Two of them were the kind of opportunities he has been gobbling up for fun this season.
Instead, this was an unwanted and uncomfortable reminder of what happens when Haaland doesn't score. City lose. For the fourth time this season, a Premier League team kept him out, and for the third time, it ended in a defeat for his team.
It's clear Haaland shoulders the goalscoring burden in this team. The pressure isn't likely to weigh him down, given he has just carried Norway to a first World Cup in 28 years, but this was a costly off day.
Ruben Dias took the goalscoring mantle, smashing a shot from a corner into the back of the net to draw the Blues level after Harvey Barnes had opened the scoring. He was the ninth different Premier League goalscorer for City this season, but Haaland is still the only player to score more than once.
Had Pep Guardiola's side been solid defensively, maybe a goal from a centre-back would have been enough, but they never offered any semblance of control at St James' Park. This was a crapshoot and those are the kind of games Guardiola hates, because they are just as easy to lose as they are to win.
Dias' goal came either side of two for Barnes in a wild seven-minute spell that summed the game up. The first came after a sloppy Nico O'Reilly clearance had failed to deal with the danger, but the finish from 20 yards was unerring.
The second was hooked in from a set-piece City failed to clear. Gianluigi Donnarumma was furious at not being awarded a foul from the corner and was booked for his protest before getting involved in a heated argument with Newcastle assistant Jason Tindall.
The combustible duo continued their war of words at full-time. A dismissive wave of the hand from Tindall was met by an icy stare from Donnarumma, who was in danger of overheating. Twenty yards away, Pep Guardiola and Bruno Guimaraes got involved in their own disagreement.
City's frustration was boiling over and it showed what a missed opportunity this was. Had they cut the gap to Arsenal to a point, it would have spiced up the title race in November. Instead, the Gunners have the chance to seize back the narrative.
It was the kind of ending this game had always promised to deliver. The question on everyone's lips at half-time was how it remained goalless. Barnes could have scored inside 30 seconds as Newcastle jumped on a poor pass from Donnarumma, only for Barnes to allow the Italian a simple chance to atone.
That set the temperature for a game as chaotic and entertaining as a Saturday night at Newcastle's lively Bigg Market. Donnarumma said this week he was loving the intensity of life in the Premier League, so he would have felt right at home here.
Nick Woltemade had scored from his first six shots on target in the Premier League and when the ball left his head from Tino Livramento's cross, he would have felt he was in seventh heaven, only to see the giant Italian deny him. Donnarumma repeated the dose soon afte,r but Haaland couldn't take advantage at the other end.
He let Nick Pope get away with a rush of blood to the head to race 15 yards out of his area in the early stages, then hit a first-time shot at the goalkeeper from eight yards. Phil Foden was guilty of another glaring miss after a slick City move and he should have had a penalty when taken out by Fabian Schar.
The injustice would linger, but the drama was just beginning.
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