Haaland's brace lifts Manchester City to second place in Premier League

Erling Haaland netted a brace to drive Manchester City up to second position in the Premier League after a 3-1 victory against Bournemouth on Sunday.

The Cherries had begun the day holding second spot due to their impressive longest unbeaten sequence in the English top division.

Yet Andoni Iraolas team was overwhelmed by the exceptional performance of the Norwegian forward who raised his Premier League goal count to 13 in just 10 matches.

Haalands unstoppable run is sustaining Cities pursuit of the title as they narrowed the deficit to table toppers Arsenal back to six points and moved one point clear of Liverpool whom they will meet next weekend.

Even after a first loss in 10 outings away at Aston Villa last weekend Pep Guardiola stayed assured that his team can challenge Arsenal by May.

Further positive indicators emerged for Guardiola with Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden excelling in inventive positions while Nico ORiley marked the first City goalscorer besides Haaland in the Premier League for more than a month.

Emboldened by their winless streak since the season opening defeat at Liverpool Bournemouth launched an energetic start.

Nevertheless their bold high defensive line proved vulnerable on 17 minutes when Cherkis header enabled Haaland to surge forward from midfield to blast beyond Djordje Petrovic.

The away side equalised eight minutes later as Gianluigi Donnarumma protested he was obstructed while attempting to gather a corner and Tyler Adams rifled in the rebound.

However Haaland reestablished Cities lead before the interval by sprinting onto another Cherki through ball behind the Bournemouth backline to bypass Petrovic and tap in his 26th goal across club and international duties this season.

The 25 year old also joined Luis Suarez and Robbie Fowler as only the third player to record multiple goals in four straight Premier League home fixtures.

Guardiola has urged increased input from his other forwards to reduce the scoring pressure on his high scoring central striker.

Currently no other City player has netted more than once in the league this term but ORiley added from the back line to secure the win.

Foden provided the assist on this occasion as ORiley advanced before driving a low effort into the distant corner.

Haaland missed out on a potential hat trick when substituted by Omar Marmoush eight minutes before full time keeping focus on the upcoming Champions League clash with his old team Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday.

The pair of goals sufficed to maintain City in contention despite Arsenals dominant streak of nine successive victories and seven consecutive shutouts across all competitions.