Erling Haaland’s sixth Premier League hat-trick, completed in the opening 45 minutes and featuring two penalties, signalled the goal-scoring phenomenon is back in ruthless mood at the very best of times for Manchester City.

After this crushing victory, when Haaland added a peach of fourth after the interval, City can do what Arsenal have been doing to them: pile the pressure on in this tightest of title races by winning at Fulham next Saturday, move ahead two points, and make the Gunners think before kicking-off at Manchester United 24 hours later.

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• Updates from the 5.30pm BST kick-off at the Etihad
• Rice drives Arsenal past Bournemouth to maintain title push

Our Pep makes three changes from the side that started last weekend’s win at the City Ground. Erling Haaland , the fit-again Phil Foden and Mateo Kovacic come in for Julian Alvarez, Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku.

Gary O’Neil brings in Hugo Bueno for Matt Doherty, which is the only change from last weekend’s win over Luton.

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Erling Haaland is the frontrunner, with Cole Palmer, Alexander Isak, Ollie Watkins, Dominic Solanke and Mo Salah in pursuit

By Ryan Benson for Opta Analyst

Haaland ran away with the Premier League golden boot last season , scoring 36 goals in his first campaign in England. He is unlikely to challenge his record for scoring the most goals in a single Premier League campaign , but 21 makes him the frontrunner against this season and would be considered an unequivocal success for any other striker in the league.

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• Premier League CEO unhappy with lack of Fifa consultation
• Manchester City’s 115 charges to be resolved ‘in near future’

Richard Masters has criticised Fifa for failing to consult domestic leagues over its plans for an expanded Club World Cup, whose inaugural edition in the United States is set to occupy a month of the 2025 summer break.

As the chief executive of the Premier League reiterated that Manchester City’s 115 charges will be resolved in “the near future”, with hearings set to take place in the autumn, league officials from across Europe came together to issue a warning over an ever-expanding club calendar, with Fifa’s new competition the main target.

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• Manchester City playmaker and partner expecting third child
• Guardiola: ‘It’s a question of time. He can improve a lot’

Pep Guardiola has said the the third child Phil Foden and his partner are expecting may help the Manchester City playmaker reach his full potential.

Foden was the champions’ standout performer in Thursday’s 4-0 victory at Brighton , scoring twice to reach 24 goals in all competitions, a career high. Yet Guardiola, asked about Foden’s form, said the 23-year-old still needed to be calmer during certain moments in games.

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Liverpool await a dead-ball salvo, Luton have to keep their chins up, and things could get spicy at the City Ground

David Moyes will surely have taken note of Liverpool’s struggle to defend set pieces against Everton. Jürgen Klopp, who must be delighted with a 12.30pm kick-off on Saturday, should prepare his team for another bruising test when they visit West Ham. For Moyes, this is a chance to repair the sizeable damage to his reputation caused by last weekend’s collapse at Selhurst Park . West Ham were 4-0 down to Palace after 31 minutes and are preparing to part company with Moyes at the end of the season, but they should take heart from how Everton unsettled Liverpool in the Merseyside derby. Everton scored twice from set pieces and West Ham pose a similar threat from dead balls. James Ward-Prowse’s deliveries towards Tomas Soucek, Kurt Zouma and Michail Antonio will have Klopp’s defenders sweating. Jacob Steinberg

West Ham v Liverpool, Saturday 12.30pm (all times BST)

Fulham v Crystal Palace, Saturday 3pm

Newcastle v Sheffield United, Saturday 3pm

Manchester United v Burnley, Saturday 3pm

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Almost ten years ago to the day, Steven Gerrard slipped, Liverpool lost control of their destiny in terms of the Premier League title race and Manchester City nipped in to win it.

The talk in recent weeks and certainly since Arsenal and Liverpool lost on the Saturday before last has been about whether City might have a slip of their own in them, something that – frankly – they have never done previously under Pep Guardiola when the trophy has been within their grasp, the focus narrowing over the run-in.

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• Premier League live updates from the 8pm BST kick-off
• Live scoreboard | Read Football Daily | And email Scott

… and then there were two . OK, it’s true that Liverpool aren’t officially out of the title race yet, but … c’mon.

Manchester City are still very much in it, though, their destiny in their own hands. But Arsenal have points on the board, a bumper goal difference and the wind behind, so if the champions are going to win a record-breaking fourth title in a row, City really can’t afford any slip-ups as they hit the final turn. You’d expect them to get the job done tonight, given they’ve beaten Brighton 11 times in the last 13 meetings … but the other two matches were a 1-1 draw and a 3-2 defeat at the Amex, and those came in two of their last three visits. So nothing’s certain, especially not at the Business End when the nerves start to jangle. Arsenal fans (and overly optimistic Liverpool ones) are all Seagulls tonight. Kick-off is at 8pm BST. It’s on!

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• Manager says midfielder asked to leave City two seasons before
• Pochettino confirms Enzo Fernández is playing with a hernia

Pep Guardiola has described Cole Palmer as the “decisive player of the season” and said Manchester City must find a way of negating him in Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea. Guardiola also revealed that Palmer asked to leave City for two seasons before making his £42m move to west London in September .

Palmer joined City at under-eight level and made 19 appearances for the club across three years before leaving for Chelsea, and having scored for City in their Community Shield defeat to Arsenal in August, as well as in their European Super Cup victory over Sevilla that followed 10 days later. He will line up against last season’s treble winners as the Premier League joint-top scorer with 20 goals, alongside Erling Haaland, who is a doubt for the semi-final.

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