There are a few rounds left and the two heavyweights are still going blow for blow.
Arsenal thought they had taken a knock the day before that could shake Manchester City.
But their 3-0 home win over Bournemouth wasn’t going to bring the champions to their knees.
They are made of materials.
With a striker who bears an uncanny resemblance to the fearsome Ivan Drago from the Rocky movies, who moves pity.
Erling Haaland’s hat-trick in the first half before the half-time whistle. He added the fourth after the break.
Still unhappy, he retired on his own and threw some straps on the ground when he replaced just before the end.
Manager Pep Guardiola whispered in his ear as he was leaving.
Two fierce competitions that need more.
Haaland is a person who is fighting for a second consecutive name, Golden Boot and, with it, a fourth consecutive Premier League record for City.
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They’re starting to have to let their guard down to let this happen now.
Liverpool’s glass jaw already has them out.
So here we are, two friends of Pep Guardiola and his former assistant Mikel Arteta looking into each other’s eyes wondering if either of them will blink.
Arsenal have two to play with an advantage, City three.
The Gunners are clinging to the fact that among Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Spurs are the ones who can overtake Guardiola’s team.
After all, they are your “scarecrow” team.
As if there was some mystical magic in the paintings that would pull the rug out from under City’s feet based on results beyond.
It is true that in the league they have lost 4 times in the new home of the Spurs, and even scored in that time.
But Ange Postecoglou’s has been a “teammate” lately who is on a three-game losing streak.
City are unbeaten in 32 games since Dec. 6, if you don’t count the penalty shootout as a defeat.
So no bogeyman will scare this group. Wolves weren’t.
Arsenal enthusiasts were glued to their TVs more than expected.
Hope temporarily turned to depression when Haaland scored twice from the penalty spot and once with a dominant header, all before the break.
The number one came after just 12 minutes when Rayan Ait-Nouri awkwardly passed Josko Gvardiol when he volleyed home and a penalty was awarded.
Ait Nouri suggesting that he had hurt his lip while performing his karate move was not going to influence referee Craig Pawson.
Haaland stood up and when goalkeeper José Sa made the slightest movement of his hip to the left, it was enough for the Norwegian to roll the ball to his right and inward.
It was two against in 35 minutes, with City’s urgency that did not give the visitors time to breathe.
The ball was very temporarily recovered through this team that seemed to have twice as much power as the others.
Then, when Kevin De Bruyne took control, he fed Rodri, whose deep cross found Haaland at the far post with a header that went over Jose Sa and in.
Nelson Semedo wanted to be the most sensible of himself and didn’t even get up from the flight.
Had he done so, it would have been a futile effort, as he would have needed a fireman’s ladder to climb as high as Haaland and manage to reach the balloon.
You had to look at the screen on the pitch for a second penalty to be awarded in first-half stoppage time.
He eventually ruled that Semedo had cut off Haaland on his way into the box.
This time, when the goalkeeper was going in the right direction, the force of Haaland’s penalty was enough to escape his outstretched hand.
There was a brief cheer for the fans when Wolves got a goal back in the 53rd minute.
Ederson set up Jean-Ricner Bellegarde’s ball to Hwang Hee-Chan with a slap and the South Korean returned the ball into the net.
City’s reaction came within a minute.
Despite all the communication of City’s tiki-taka football, they can use the long ball to brutal effect, as they did with Haaland’s fourth.
Ederson passed the ball to Footballer of the Year Foden, whose brilliant 50-yard ball fell behind the 6ft-4 striker who then cut inside Max Kilman and sent the ball into the corner.
Substitute Julian Alvarez, who replaced Haaland, added the fifth in the 84th minute with Rodri’s shot.
At the final whistle, Haaland entered the pitch to collect the ball in form and be cheered on by the fans. It’s a knockout.
The ultimate bell is about to ring, the champion’s arms are about to ring again.
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