MANCHESTER City have climbed above Arsenal to the top of the English Premier League table after a 2-1 victory over Fulham at Craven Cottage today.
The champions secured the win courtesy of goals from Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez while Carlos Vinicius struck for the hosts.
Haaland got City on their way by converting from the penalty spot after just three minutes.
The Norwegian has now scored 50 goals in all competitions this season, 21 more than any other player for Premier League clubs.
It is also his 34th Premier League goal of the campaign, the joint-most ever scored in the competition, and that tally was only reached by Alan Shearer and Andy Cole in 42-game campaigns.
Fulham were back level temporarily 12 minutes later through Vinicius, but World Cup winner Alvarez hit an unstoppable shot in the 36th minute to secure the points for the champions.
City are have one more point than long-time leaders Arsenal, who have played one more game. Fulham are 10th.
Also today, Manchester United took a step towards qualifying for next season’s UEFA Champions League with a 1-0 home win over Aston Villa.
Bruno Fernandes scored the only goal of the game in the first half to end Aston Villa’s unbeaten run at 10 Premier League games.
United stay in fourth, seven points clear of fifth spot and with a game in hand, while Villa are seventh.
Just ahead of Manchester United in the standings are Newcastle United, who came from behind to beat Southampton 3-1 at St James’s Park.
Southampton manager Ruben Selles dropped Nigeria internationals Paul Onuachu and Joe Aribo from the matchday squad, and the Saints took a surprise lead just before half-time through Stuart Armstrong.
Newcastle responded in the second with two goals from Callum Wilson and a Theo Walcott own goal to stay in third place. Southampton are bottom, six points from safety.
In the other Premier League clash today, Bournemouth defeated Leeds United 4-1 to steer 10 points clear of the relegation zone, with two goals from Jefferson Lerma, and one each from Dominic Solanke and Antoine Semenyo.
