Erling Haaland scored the only goal of the match as Manchester City edged to a 1-0 home win over Brentford to close the gap on leaders Liverpool to a single point.

Haaland's strike in the 71st minute was his 17th in the Premier League this season and means he has now scored against every side he has faced in the competition, with Brentford the last club to succumb to his powers.

The Norwegian is just the second player to have played against more than two teams in the competition and netted against all of them, after Harry Kane.

How the match unfolded

Pep Guardiola left Kevin De Bruyne, Nathan Ake and Jeremy Doku on the bench, opting to start with Bernardo Silva, John Stones and 20-year-old Oscar Bobb, who made his first ever Premier League start.

Brentford made three changes, with Yoane Wissa replacing Neal Maupay up front for his first start since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) with DR Congo, while Mathias Jorgensen and Frank Onyeka were recalled.

City, who had won the reverse fixture 3-1 earlier this month, showed an early sign of their intent when Haaland’s curling shot in the third minute was straight at Mark Flekken. Moments later, Wissa made a vital block to block a fearsome volley from Phil Foden.

But Brentford nearly caught Man City by surprise as Wissa played in Onyeka, who failed to capitalise with only Ederson to beat.

Thereafter the half was dominated by City, who had several chances. Haaland volleyed over. Bernardo Silva somehow headed wide eight yards out, and Manuel Akanji’s 30-yard strike forced Flekken to make a fingertip save over the crossbar, before the goalkeeper also denied Ruben Dias.

The best chance was still to come for City, but Ben Mee did brilliantly to get back and clear Bobb’s effort off the line. 

Meanwhile at the other end, Onyeka was left completely unmarked but his header was kept out by a diving Ederson.

City came out strongly again after the break but were unable to convert their 70 per cent possession into goals and Doku was soon introduced in search of a breakthrough, which eventually came in the 71st minute.

After a Brentford attack broke down, City drove forward and Julian Alvarez found Haaland. Kristoffer Ajer slipped at a crucial moment, leaving Haaland with a 1v1 to slot in a cool finish past the on-rushing Flekken into the bottom-left corner.

Haaland thought he had scored his and City’s second goal 10 minutes later, but his close-range header was ruled out because Kyle Walker was offside in the build-up.

There was still time for Foden and Haaland to force excellent saves from Flekken, but City had done enough to secure their win.

A second successive defeat leaves Brentford 14th on 25 points.

Club reports

Man City report | Brentford report

Match officials 

Referee: Darren England. Assistants: Ian Hussin, Dan Robathan. Fourth official: Tony Harrington. VAR: Michael Salisbury. Assistant VAR: Richard West.