High-flying Haaland

MANCHESTER, England — Pep Guardiola has coached arguably the greatest-ever soccer player in Lionel Messi, so it speaks volumes when he admits he has run out of words to describe Erling Haaland's start to life at Manchester City.

"My English language is not big enough," the City manager said after the Norway striker took his goal tally to 22 this season in a 3-1 win against Brighton in the Premier League on Saturday.

Haaland, who had failed to find the back of the net in the previous week's 1-0 loss to Liverpool, quickly got over that mini-drought with two first-half goals as the Premier League champion moved to within a point of leader Arsenal.

With 17 goals in the league, Haaland needs just six more to equal the 23 goals that saw Mo Salah and Son Heung-min share the Golden Boot as last season's joint leading scorers.

"Erling has the quality," Guardiola said. "With big space he can do it, but with small space he can do it. This is the reality, it is fantastic."

Haaland's goals have come in just 15 appearances in all competitions. He looked set to register his fourth hat-trick of the season, with both goals coming before halftime.

He opened the scoring after 22 minutes when racing on to Ederson's long clearance. With Brighton goalkeeper Robert Sanchez stranded outside of his goal, Haaland overpowered Adam Webster and rolled the ball into an empty net.

He got his and City's second two minutes before halftime after referee Craig Pawson reviewed a challenge from Lewis Dunk on Bernardo Silva and awarded a penalty.

Haaland stepped up and powered a low shot past Sanchez, which was the club's 600th league goal under Guardiola.

Just as City fans might have been wondering how many goals their team would rack up in the latest rout, Brighton reduced the deficit.

Riyad Mahrez looked set to add to the home team's lead but his tame shot was saved by Sanchez, which allowed Brighton to break. Solly March laid the ball off to Leandro Trossard just outside the penalty box and he unleashed a low drive that beat Ederson at his near post in the 53rd.

Trossard could have equalized later when running through on goal — but his shot from a tight angle was saved. Brighton paid the price for that missed opportunity when Kevin De Bruyne made it 3-1 in the 75th with a superb long-range shot that curled into the top corner.

While Guardiola has run out of superlatives for Haaland, he is still to be fully satisfied by De Bruyne this season.

"He is not playing at his top level, not yet," he said. "He made a fantastic goal, but he is not playing at his best. He knows, I don't have to tell him. His dynamic is still not perfect, I spoke with him.

"The goal is outstanding. Thanks to him we didn't suffer in the last 15 to 20 minutes."

Liverpool stunned

Struggling Nottingham Forest pulled off a stunning 1-0 win over Liverpool to claim only its second victory of the season in the Premier League on Saturday.

Nigerian forward Taiwo Awoniyi got the only goal of the game in Nottingham in the second half when he followed up his own shot to score from close range, coming back to haunt Liverpool after joining the club in 2015 but never playing a competitive game for the Reds.

Forest goalkeeper Dean Henderson made an impressive save deep in added time to keep out a header from Virgil van Dijk, securing his side's first win since it beat West Ham United on Aug 14, while Liverpool sank to a third defeat of the season.

The result brought Liverpool back down to earth after last week's 1-0 win over Manchester City and another 1-0 success over West Ham in midweek. It also underlined Jurgen Klopp's side's struggles away from home this season, with only two points from five matches on its travels.

"Massive, massive blow because I have no idea how we can lose this game to be honest," Klopp said.

"The performance I can kind of explain, the result not. We had to put the game to bed to be perfectly honest."

Forest coach Steve Cooper said: "This is a big win but only a win. We've got to build on that and carry on. To win a game against someone like Liverpool, you need to have very good moments at both ends. We've done that today."

The result left Liverpool seventh in the standings on 16 points, 11 behind leader Arsenal, who was due to visit Southampton on Sunday.

Agencies