Erling Haaland scored his 50th goal of the season and helped Manchester City take the top spot of the English Premier League on Sunday. He scored from the penalty spot after only three minutes at Fulham, where City won 2-1. Haaland’s goal saw him tie Alan Shearer and Andy Cole’s joint record of 34 goals in a Premier League campaign. Both of those players reached their totals in a 42-game season, while Haaland’s came in a still unfinished 38-game campaign. With six more games to play in the league this season, Haaland looks likely to set a new outright record.
Haaland fired past Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno from the spot after Julian Alvarez had been brought down by Tim Ream. Fulham evened the score after 15 minutes through Carlos Vinicius, but City was back in front in the 36th from Alvarez’s strike. Meanwhile, Bournemouth moved further clear of the relegation zone with a one-sided 4-1 victory over Leeds United on Sunday. Jefferson Lerma scored twice in the opening 24 minutes before Patrick Bamford cut the deficit in the 32nd. But the home side struck twice more in the second half — through Dominic Solanke and Antoine Semenyo — to put the game out of reach and give the Cherries a cushion of 10 points over Leicester in 18th having played a game more. Leeds remains perilously close to the drop — just a point ahead of the Foxes, who have a game in hand.
