Erling Haaland Manchester City 2024-25 Getty

Man City player ratings vs Brentford: Erling Haaland is a freak! Goal machine runs riot again as Ederson proves his worth to keep Premier League champions perfect

Erling Haaland paid the perfect tribute to his late family friend Ivar Eggja by making more Premier League history as Manchester City made it four wins out of four with a 2-1 victory despite facing a stern test from Brentford.

Yoane Wissa gave the Bees - the last team to beat City at home in any competition, 22 months ago - the lead after just 22 seconds and Thomas Frank's side should have added to their early advantage.

The visitors dominated the ball for most of the first half and Ederson prevented them from striking again before Haaland equalised, celebrating in a restrained manner. The Norwegian then struck his ninth goal of the season to give City the lead before half-time, surpassing Wayne Rooney as the player to score the most goals in the first four games of a Premier League campaign.

Haaland had around an hour to make yet more history and become the first player in 78 years of English league football to score three consecutive hat-tricks, but the milestone just evaded him: he struck the post and had two shots blocked, one by a fine save from Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken.

City had other things to worry about though and Brentford were so dangerous on the counter-attack that by the end Kevin De Bruyne resorted to keeping the ball in the corner to see the game out. The tactic worked and City raced three points clear at the top of the table thanks to Liverpool's shock defeat at home by Nottingham Forest.

GOAL rates Man City's players from the Etihad Stadium...

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