Haaland's hat-trick gives Man City early lead over Arsenal in EPL as Arteta criticises red card decision

LONDON (AP) — Given Erling Haaland's goalscoring rate, it will be difficult to keep up with Manchester City in the English Premier League.

Although the season is only three games behind us, it was already significant when title rivals Arsenal dropped points on Saturday and City then took full advantage of the victory thanks to another hat-trick from Haaland.

The Norwegian striker scored his second hat-trick in two games as City beat West Ham 3-1 to maintain their perfect start and move two points clear of Arsenal, who were held 1-1 by Brighton after Declan Rice was sent off early in the second half.

“No words for him,” said City manager Pep Guardiola of Haaland, who scored seven goals in three games at the start of the season and has scored a total of 70 goals in the 69 league games he has played for the club.

With eight Premier League hat-tricks, Haaland has achieved as many as Thierry Henry (258 games), Harry Kane (320) and Michael Owen (326) in their careers.

However, this was his first game away from the Etihad Stadium and he showed his wide range of finishing skills.

He scored the first goal when he ran onto a pass from Bernardo Silva and beat goalkeeper Alphonse Areola with a low shot. After an own goal from Ruben Dias, Haaland made it 2-1 in the 30th minute when he received a pass in the box and fired a powerful shot into the roof of the net. The hat-trick was completed in the 83rd minute when he ran free towards goal and chipped the ball past Lukasz Fabianski, who had come on for Areola at half-time.

“I have to be honest, I really liked the second goal,” said Haaland. “The second one was beautiful. … I like to shoot a bit hard sometimes. Not just easy shots. So it's good to get a bit of power out of my body.”

There are still 35 games left, but Haaland's outstanding form means that any gap to City, no matter how small, seems difficult to make up.

So it is perhaps no wonder that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was so frustrated after what he considered to be a crucial refereeing decision.

Arsenal led 1-0 at the start of the match at the Emirates Stadium and appeared to have the game under control when Rice was shown a second yellow card in the 49th minute, apparently for pushing the ball aside as Joel Veltman attempted a quick free kick deep in Brighton's half of the pitch near the touchline.

Veltman kicked Rice from behind and the home crowd screamed for a penalty for the Brighton player, but referee Chris Kavanagh showed Rice the red card instead.

“I was amazed. Astonished, amazed, amazed because decisions can be so inconsistent,” Arteta said, arguing that similar offences had gone unpunished earlier in the game. “That was really, really difficult to take.”

This decision turned the game completely on its head and Joao Pedro equalized in the 58th minute with a rebound after David Raya had blocked a shot from Yankuba Minteh.

Kai Havertz put Arsenal ahead in the 38th minute with a lob over goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen and had a chance to restore Arsenal's lead in the 74th minute when he again ran towards goal, but his low shot was saved this time.

Bottom-placed Everton could only lament their own inconsistency – and inability to defend crosses – after letting a 2-0 lead slip in the dying minutes to lose 3-2 at home to Bournemouth. Brentford, meanwhile, showed once again that they can cope well without Ivan Toney by beating Southampton 3-1.

Everton and Southampton remained at the bottom of the table without a point, while Arsenal and Brighton's perfect start to the league came to an end.

Liverpool also has six points from two games and will play at Manchester United on Sunday.

Everton collapses

Everton's poor start to last season at Goodison Park was made worse on Saturday as frustrated home fans streamed out of the stadium after the final whistle.

Everton looked set to claim their first points of the season after Michael Keane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin gave them a 2-0 lead that lasted until the 87th minute. But when Antoine Semenyo reduced the deficit, Everton's players and fans seemed to get nervous and Lewis Cook took advantage, heading home the equaliser in the second minute of stoppage time.

With Goodison Park in shock, Bournemouth continued to press forward and scored a winner in similar fashion when Luis Sinisterra headed in another cross unhindered at the far post three minutes later.

“We just threw the game away,” said Everton manager Sean Dyche. “We were in control, total control.”

Bournemouth increased their season tally to five points after opening the season with two draws.

Toney watches Mbuemo shine

Toney was in attendance from the stands to watch Brentford complete their move to Saudi Arabian club Al-Ahli on the final day of the season on Friday, and watched as Bryan Mbuemo took over his role as goalscorer instead.

Mbuemo scored the first two goals and Yoanne Wissa added the third, making it a frustrating Southampton debut for goalkeeper Aaron Ramsey, who joined from Arsenal this week, but Southampton did score their first goal of the season when Yukinari Sugawara scored a late consolation goal in stoppage time.

In addition, Aston Villa won 2-1 in Leicester, newly promoted Ipswich picked up its first point with a 1-1 draw against Fulham and Nottingham Forest also played 1-1 at home against Wolves. ___

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