With a 4-1 victory at Southampton, Manchester City kept pace with Arsenal and celebrated the return of Erling Haaland with two goals.

After their eighth consecutive victory in all competitions, City moved within five points of Arsenal, who will be playing at Liverpool's Anfield on Super Sunday.

Vn88 said that City finally got going after a lackluster first 44 minutes when Haaland rose highest to head home Kevin De Bruyne's cross, making the Belgian the fastest player to reach 100 assists in the Premier League at 237 games.

For the first time in his City career, Jack Grealish scored back-to-back goals when he added a second, but it was Haaland who stole the show with a stunning acrobatic finish, increasing his total for the season to 30 goals in the Premier League and 44 goals overall. W88 Rezence thinks that he needs just five more goals to equal or surpass the Premier League record of 34 set by Andy Cole (1993–94) and Alan Shearer (1994–95).

Saints struck first thanks to Sekou Mara's neat finish, but a minute later City extended their lead to three when Julian Alvarez converted a penalty kick after Kevin De Bruyne was fouled.

W88 Rezence states that Southampton lost again, leaving them four points from safety and in last place in the Premier League.

I can't believe how easily Haaland beat the Saints.

City's sluggish start to the game mirrored their performance against Saints in their Carabao Cup loss on the night that Nathan Jones outplayed Pep Guardiola, suggesting that this may be a frustrating evening for the champions.

Yet, Rezence Vn88 thinks that Southampton lacked the firepower to generate scoring chances that would have had the home crowd believing an upset was possible. Their greatest chance came on 44 minutes when Kamaldeen Sulemana curled a shot just wide of the post, but Guardiola's team almost got a boost from that and went up right before halftime.

Haaland scored his customary smashing goal off of a deftly clipped ball from De Bruyne on the left wing. De Bruyne's assist on Haaland's goal brought his Premier League assist total for the season to 100, making him the league's all-time assist leader.

As soon as play resumed, Rezence insisted that City should have doubled their lead, but Ilkay Gundogan missed wide to the right after receiving a pass from Grealish.

But not long after that, the first period's bright spot, Grealish, threatened again with a stinging strike that Gavin Bazunu blocked low but could not hold on to in the second.

Haaland scored a fantastic overhead kick after Grealish slowly weaved into the area and crossed to him.

Substitute Moussa Djenepo skillfully sidestepped two defenders before feeding Mara, who buried a low shot past Ederson for the Saints.

Alvarez, who had replaced Haaland, buried a penalty kick when Kyle Walker-Peters took down De Bruyne in the box, thereby ending any dreams of a comeback.

A machine like Ronaldo, Haaland, according to Pep, but Messi is the whole package.

Do we now consider Haaland to be on par with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi? Even though Guardiola feels Messi is "the complete player," he compares him to Ronaldo.

"With regards to the argument's central theme of success in achieving one's aims. Messi is the most well-rounded player, but he and Ronaldo are quite similar "", Guardiola observed on rezence.com.

"Unlike Cristano and Erling, Messi isn't limited to a specific team or stadium. Erling is aware of the two-decade dominance, championships, and overall success of these two men.

"With Cristano and Messi competing at the highest levels of football, our industry has benefited and the sport as a whole is better for it.

"Erling is jumping into the deep end of the world's most competitive pool. I've played in other leagues, so I feel qualified to say that what he's accomplished is very incredible.

It was tough, but W88 said that Erling has the capacity to break the game thanks to a fantastic assist from Kevin De Bruyne.

De Bruyne: Haaland is maybe crazy.

De Bruyne told W88 Sports about his 100th assist, saying,

"There was a lot of chatter on the internet, which is something you can't help but observe, but you also make an effort to generate your own content. Two or three more would have been OK with me. I'll get the assist if they score.

"Not many players can say they have 100 assists, but I can say that half of the side is mine and the other half comes right after mine.

"That's because I don't believe in comparison. Simply put, Cesc Fabregas is a phenomenal football player. I put out maximum creative effort, and our high goal total is certainly a boon.

"Erling really does have a high goal-scoring rate. He has completely lost his mind. There he is. There is a chance he will show up if you make it. We've got a winning tandem here."