**Erling Haaland** scored in his eighth consecutive game to help Pep Guardiola reach 250 wins in the Premier League as Manchester City overcame Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Haaland, who has now scored 18 goals in all competitions, struck only nine minutes in when he shrugged Sepp van den Berg off the ball before slotting a low finish into the Bees’ net.
And it was that goal that would be the all-important contribution to Guardiola’s 250th victory in the English top-flight, with him achieving the milestone in record time.
As a result, City are now unbeaten in seven games as they continue to rediscover that familiar winning feeling, which they had missed dearly last season.
If there was a stat to clarify just how vital Haaland is to this City side, it’s that no one in Guardiola’s team has scored more than one goal in the Premier League this season other than him.
It was the Norway international’s goal to make it nine so far in the top-flight for himself, which gave City the lead and helped Guardiola become the fastest manager in the competition to reach 250 victories, beating Arsene Wenger to it by 74 games.
Haaland’s work ethic off the ball shone brightly here, and even after making such a simple run ahead of his marker, the work he put in after receiving the ball justified why he is labelled the best in the world in his position.
There was a sense of deja vu when Josko Gvardiol sent a floating ball forward to Haaland — a run of play which split Monaco open on Wednesday — and a similar scenario occurred in West London on Sunday, though Haaland stole the show with the action that followed, highlighting his repressive strength.
The forward made easy work of Van den Berg, who was caught scurrying hesitantly and doing everything he could to get a touch on the ball, but Haaland held up well before cutting across Nathan Collins and finishing superbly past Caoimhin Kelleher in raw No. 9 fashion.
As elated as those City fans were in the corner of the Gtech Community Stadium, their day would have been dampened, and the bad news came only 12 minutes after a blissful start for those making the 352-mile round trip, with Rodri being forced off in the 21st minute.
Guardiola earned his 250th Premier League win (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
It continued a string of agonising injuries that the former Ballon d’Or winner has suffered since his return from an anterior cruciate ligament injury last September. Rodri has since had a groin issue, but looked to have been clutching his right hamstring before limping off in an understandably dejected state.
That injury, perhaps, gave Brentford a chance at something in this tie, but they showed little promise as the visitors continued to hold much of the ball.
On 48 minutes, however, Keith Andrews’ side broke through on a counter-attack when Gvardiol miscued a header, giving Igor Thiago the chance to face off with Gianluigi Donnarumma.
City’s goalkeeper came out better off in that challenge, but the opportunity for Brentford did wonders for a team who had performed poorly.
Still, for all the praise of their exceedingly impressive start to the 2025/26 campaign, Brentford’s first-half performance was nothing to be proud of, especially on an attacking front where, for the first time in 159 games, Andrews’ side were unable to muster a single touch in their opponent's box.
Quite the opposite should be said of Guardiola’s side, however, who could have scored two or three in a very dominant opening 45 minutes; Tijjani Reijnders came the closest a few moments before the interval.
The Netherlands international was blessed by an inviting delivery from Nico O’Reilly, and it wasn’t long until Kelleher was forced into an equally superb one-handed save from Reijnders’ volley at the back post.