City get narrow win over Brentford on milestone day for Guardiola

Brentford 0 - 1 Manchester City

Erling Haaland maintained his impressive scoring run as City secured a narrow victory over Brentford to give Pep Guardiola his 250th Premier League win.

Author | Macca

Stadium | Gtech Community Stadium

View from the away end at full-time

Guardiola became the 16th manager to reach that milestone with a single club, achieving it in just 349 matches, 74 games fewer than any other manager.

Haaland struck midway through the first half when he outmuscled Sepp van den Berg to collect Josko Gvardiol’s looping cross, turned away from the defender and finished calmly past Caoimhin Kelleher.

It was the Norwegian’s third goal of the week and his 18th in 11 appearances for club and country this season.

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City were forced to protect their slender lead for more than 80 minutes at the Gtech Community Stadium but limited Brentford to few clear chances, even as the game became increasingly scrappy after the break.

View from the home stands

The victory lifts City to fifth ahead of the international break, though there was concern for Rodri, who limped off after just 21 minutes. The Spaniard, who missed much of last season with an anterior cruciate ligament injury, is still searching for the form that earned him the Ballon d’Or last year.

Guardiola’s side see the game out, but concern grows again over Rodri.

Manchester City knew victory would close the gap on title rivals Liverpool, who slipped up again on Saturday, and keep them within reach of leaders Arsenal.

Three wins in their past four league matches have steadied Pep Guardiola’s side after back-to-back defeats in August, but the City manager will be frustrated his team could not turn dominance into a more convincing scoreline.

Despite their control of possession, City failed to find a second goal to secure the result and were once more left vulnerable to a late setback, having already been punished in a similar fashion by Brighton, Arsenal, and Monaco in recent weeks.

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Tijjani Reijnders tested Caoimhín Kelleher with a sharp volley that required a full-stretch save, while Phil Foden dragged wide after neat footwork from Oscar Bobb. Yet City mustered no shots on target after the interval and increasingly laboured as the game wore on.

Guardiola will take satisfaction from his side’s resilience in holding out, though the potential loss of Rodri will trouble him most. City know better than anyone how difficult life can become without their influential midfielder.