Haaland and De Bruyne propel Man City past Brighton

Erling Haaland struck twice and Kevin de Bruyne scored a stunning second-half goal as Manchester City earned a 3-1 home win over Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League on Saturday.

The victory moved second-placed City on to 26 points after 11 games, one behind leaders Arsenal who visit Southampton on Sunday. Brighton are eighth on 15 points.

Haaland scored for the seventh consecutive home game in all competitions to give City the lead midway through the first half and then fired in a penalty in the 43rd minute after a VAR review ruled that visiting captain Lewis Dunk had fouled Bernardo Silva.

Brighton deservedly pulled back a goal early in the second half when Leandro Trossard rifled a shot under diving City goalkeeper Ederson from the edge of the area.

Trossard nearly found an equaliser when he tore down the left wing and towards goal but this time Ederson got the better of him and blocked the shot to force a corner.

City captain De Bruyne then killed off the visitors’ hopes of snatching a point by curling a shot from outside the area high into the net in the 75th minute.

Everton beat Palace 3-0 to end losing run
Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored his first goal of the season as Everton ended their three-match losing streak in the Premier League with a 3-0 win over Crystal Palace at home on Saturday.

Frank Lampard’s team climbed four spots up to 11th in the league table on 13 points after 12 games, while Palace slipped to 12th on 13 points with a game in hand.

Calvert-Lewin, playing in his fourth game after returning from a knee injury, put Everton ahead in the 11th minute when he picked up a clever pass from Alex Iwobi and flicked the ball around Marc Guehi before slotting it into the bottom corner.

Palace made a bright start in the second half as Wilfried Zaha and Jordan Ayew looked dangerous in the Everton box, but the home side’s defenders kept them quiet.

Anthony Gordon made it 2-0 in the 63rd minute when he tapped in the rebound from Vitaliy Mykolenko’s saved shot, but the goal was disallowed for offside. VAR later overturned the decision as the crowd at Goodison Park burst into celebrations.

Substitute Dwight McNeil wrapped up the win with an 84th-minute goal as he finished off a brilliant team move, slotting home after a clever one-two with Iwobi, who bagged his second assist of the game.