Erling Haaland says Manchester City must avoid thinking about Arsenal, after their 5-4 win over Fulham on Tuesday night took them to within two points of the Gunners.
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Manchester City briefly appeared to be back to their best on Tuesday night, taking a 5-1 lead over Fulham in the 54th minute of the match.
Yet things began to unravel afterwards, with Fulham scoring three goals over the next half hour to set up a frantic finish. It was only a goal-line clearance that ultimately denied the hosts a draw.
Speaking after the match, Erling Haaland admitted it was important for City to get three points back, given Arsenal had already done the same on the same pitch. But the striker then added that City shouldn’t spend too much time thinking about it. Mikel Arteta side.
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“Arsenal came here and they won too,” Haaland began. “So we know how difficult it is to come here and Fulham are a big team.
“But again, we shouldn’t think too much about Arsenal. We should focus on ourselves, try to improve and avoid such things happening today, because it’s not good enough.
“We all know that and we need to improve as a team. That’s what we should focus on.”
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Haaland has been on a rampage so far this season, scoring 20 goals in his 19 appearances for City in all competitions.
Yet City have not always been so impressive as a unit, already losing four Premier League matches a third of the way through the season and also losing their final Champions League game.
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Despite this, they are only two points behind Arsenal in the Premier League at the time of writing. The Gunners can extend that figure to five with a win over Brentford on Wednesday night, but the gap is certainly small with so long left in the season.
If City really start to focus on themselves and improve their performances, Arsenal will have their work cut out to maintain that gap at the top.
