In spite of all the hype that surrounded the match prior to opening kick-off, the match turned out to be extremely one-sided. Manchester City destroyed the Gunners in a 4-1 victory and in doing so, all but finished off what will surely go down as one of the all-time worst league title chokes on Arsenal's part; the North Londoners had a commanding eight-point lead over the Citizens earlier this season and seemed to be cruising to a first Premier League title in 19 years.
This match added yet another page to the already overflowing ledger of the transcendent generational phenomenon better known as Erling Haaland. The stoppage-time goal which the Norwegian striker scored took his Premier League goal tally to 33 this season - a record for a 38-game league season in the modern era. As if that weren't enough, City still have seven league matches yet to be played; just to top it all off, Haaland also had two assists in the victory against Arsenal.
To put this figure into perspective, Haaland's closest "challenger" (the quotation marks are there because the use of that word is rather generous) for the Premier League Golden Boot as well as the European Golden Shoe is Harry Kane of Tottenham Hotspur. Kane has racked up 24 goals after 33 Tottenham matches - an outstanding total by any measure. The true sign of Haaland's sheer greatness is that he has made Kane's season - one in which most people would otherwise be hailing as perhaps the best of his legendary career - a mere afterthought.
This is not even the most mind-boggling part of Haaland's utter domination of the Premier League as well as the Champions League in which he has already scored 12 goals prior to the tournament's semifinals. At just 22 years old, Haaland is likely five to seven years away from his absolute peak. Considering the fact that he is already dominating like this while still being on the rise, the idea of what Haaland will be like at his apex borders on the incomprehensible.
Haaland is by far the chief reason why City's chances of a Treble not only exist, but are even relatively substantial. Prior to this season, City had been in genuine contention for a Treble twice before: the 2018-19 and 2020-21 seasons. In 2018-19, City won the Premier League and FA Cup Double but lost to Tottenham in the Champions League quarterfinals by way of the away goals rule. Two years later, they would again win the domestic league; however, this time they would be beaten by Chelsea in both the FA Cup semifinals and Champions League final.
One key point about City's 2020-21 campaign in particular cannot be overlooked: the club's leading goalscorer was central midfielder İlkay Gündoğan, who finished the season with 13 league goals and 17 in all competitions. For a club at City's level - a genuine Champions League contender, a figure like that is simply too low. Had City even had one 30-goal or even 25-goal player in 2020-21, they could certainly have (arguably, would have) finished the season with all three major trophies in their possession.
It would, of course, be reductive to claim that all of City's success this season comes down to Haaland. There are so many factors that have played a role. That being said, the match against Arsenal confirmed what many people had already suspected but for whatever reason, had not openly said up to that point. It was clear that the biggest difference between the two teams and the primary reason why City will almost certainly win the league was none other than Erling Braut Haaland.
In the coming years, Haaland will almost assuredly score hundreds of goals, shatter record after record, and fill his trophy case to the brim. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that we could be witnessing the rise of the player who might someday be regarded as perhaps the greatest centre-forward of all time.
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