On a night which bore many hallmarks of a slip-up, City eventually came good in the second half when Haaland took advantage of a slip from Kristoffer Ajer to score on the counter-attack. The result from their long-held game in hand sees City move second, past Arsenal and to within a point of Liverpool.

Brentford had frustrated Pep Guardiola's side and had some chances of their own, but were perhaps unlucky that they fell to Frank Onyeka, rather than star striker Ivan Toney. The midfielder shot tamely at Ederson when through one-on-one and could only test the goalkeeper with a header.

City were far from their best, but got the job done while not even unleashing Kevin De Bruyne from the substitutes' bench and with Oscar Bobb's effort cleared off the line. Here are the talking points from the match at the Etihad Stadium.