Premier League results

Pep Guardiola's Erling Haaland-less side downed Liverpool 4-1 at the Etihad. Goals from Julian Alvarez, Kevin de Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish ...

It is the most luxurious luxury to have and not entirely surprising at the same time when you consider how near-perfect City have been in the transfer market in recent time – Haaland will start when he is fit, and likely score a hat-trick. When he isn’t in the team, the aesthetics of the football on show go up a notch still. Just don’t expect him to say as such. Nonetheless, there would have been no tears in the City dressing room from Guardiola pre-match when the Norwegian told his manager personally he wasn’t fit to play. Instead, what transpired was the perfect afternoon for the madcap Catalan – thrashing a rival, his way. Pontus Jansson gave the Bees an early lead, before Kaoru Mitoma equalised on 21 minutes.