Manchester City moved to within a point of Premier League leaders Liverpool after defeating Brentford 1-0 on Tuesday night.
Premier League
Result: Manchester City 1-0 Brentford
Date: 20 February 2024
Venue: Etihad
Pep Guardiola made three changes from the draw with Chelsea over the weekend, as Kevin de Bruyne, Nathan Ake and Jeremy Doku dropped to the bench in favour of Oscar Bobb, John Stones and Bernardo Silva.The Citizens were undoubtedly wary of the visitors, who secured a late victory at Etihad last season thanks to Ivan Toney, who has scored in each of his last three matches.
Guardiola's charges dominated from the onset but they had to wait until the 33rd minute for a big opening when Kyle Walker nodded the ball into the path of Bernardo Silva, who failed to steer his header on target from close range.
The home side went even closer three minutes later when Bobb did well to evade one challenge in the box before seeing goal-bound strike brilliantly cleared off the line by Ben Mee, as the frustration began to grow for City.
It was more of the same in the second half, as the defending champions were camped in the Brentford half but were finding it tough to carve out clear-cut chances in the 18 yard area.
The deadlock was eventually broken in the 70th minute when a untimely slip from Kristoffer Ajer allowed Erling Haaland to race clear on goal and calmly slot into the back of the net.
Haaland thought he had completed his brace nine minutes later after nodding home from Kyle Walker's cross, but the celebrations were cut short due to an offside in the build up.
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