Pep Guardiola sounded a special salute to Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez, hailing the strike duo as an ‘incredible weapon’ after the pair both struck to secure a 2-1 win at Fulham to send City top of the Premier League.
Haaland despatched a second minute penalty to register the 50th goal of his incredible debut campaign at City – the first time a player has achieved that feat in the top-flight since Tom ‘Pongo’ Waring did so for Aston Villa way back in 1931.
After Carlos Vinicius had then levelled for Fulham, Argentina World Cup winner Alavrez conjured up a stunning 36th minute curling effort to seal an eighth straight league win and power City back on top for the first time in 10 weeks.
It was a victory every bit as vital as last Wednesday’s 4-1 success over Arsenal. And reflecting on the crucial success at Craven Cottage, the City boss was keen to highlight the defining impact of both of his front men both today and across the course of the season.
“I knew that Churchill was not Prime Minister when the record today Erling broke,” Guardiola reflected.
“It’s a long, long time ago. I am really impressed. He took the penalty with the mentality he has. Strong.
“Congratulations to Erling. The best goals to help us achieve what we want still is there.
“With Julian, every time he plays he gives us everything. He got the assist for the penalty and after did the extraordinary goal.
“To have two strikers is an incredible weapon that we have.
“To play almost all of the games to be world champions with Argentina where there are thousands of talented footballers and to be able to play there is because he (Alvarez) has something.
“It is helping me a lot to understand that in the future I can adjust something to make them both and Kevin (De Bruyne) play.
“In tight games that’s really important.
“It’s not just the goal and the penalty, it’s the pressure and to keep the ball. He knows exactly where the other players are.”
City will now prepare for a draining May schedule that will see us play eight games, starting with Wednesday’s home encounter with West Ham.
And for the boss, rest and recovery were uppermost in his mind.
“My only concern now is how we recover,” Guardiola added.
“We play every three days but that happens when you’re in three competitions.
“Winning games helps with the recovery to be faster.
“We go back to Manchester and prepare for West Ham.”
