ERLING HAALAND finally went back ‘home’ – and Leeds rolled out the welcome mat for him.
The Norwegian was born in the Yorkshire city back in summer 2000 around the time his dad Alf Inge was a player at Elland Road.
Erling Haaland scored twice on the return to his birthplace
And he clearly feels comfortable on that side of the Pennines.
He added another two goals to take his incredible Premier League tally for the season to 20.
Yet the first one was served up on a plate for him after a terrible defensive mix-up between Liam Cooper and Robin Koch.
And keeper Illan Meslier – who had an otherwise excellent night – might have felt he could have done better with the second a few minutes later.
Opponents really cannot afford to be so accommodating when this guy is in town. They might as well have handed him the keys to the front door.
That’s 26 for the season now for the former Borussia Dortmund star – and you feel like he is only just getting started.
Since they were surprisingly beaten by Brentford in their last league game almost seven weeks ago, Arsenal have won two matches.
That gave Mikel Arteta an eight-point advantage over his former boss Guardiola – with the City boss warning his players they did not have much margin for error.
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Yet if anyone can make light work of such a gap, it is City.
They are the only side in the last 13 seasons to go on and win the title having not been top of the table on Christmas Day – and what’s more they’ve done it three times.
Apparently this is the fixture that Leeds-born Haaland looked for first when the fixture list was revealed.
And he nearly had a dream start as he raced clear inside the first minute and tried to lift the ball over Meslier but the French keeper got enough on it to keep it out.
Haaland wasn’t the only Leeds-born star in the City ranks.
Kalvin Phillips – who was axed from the Carabao Cup tie with Liverpool for returning from the World Cup overweight – was back on the bench.
He got no sympathy from fans of his boyhood club though as they chanted the England star ‘eats what he wants’. He took the taunts with a smile to be fair.
City’s last four away games in all competitions had produced only one goal – although two of them were largely meaningless Champions League games.
And they were struggling to make the breakthrough here against Jesse Marsch’s well organised side with a Kevin De Bruyne just out of the reach of the diving Ilkay Gundogan.
KDB was starting to pull the strings and created another opening for Haaland but once again he was denied by Meslier – this time with his legs.
That prompted shouts of ‘you’re Leeds and you know you are’ from the Elland Road faithful. They might have known it would come back to bite them.
But the chances kept coming with a stretching Jack Grealish diverting a cross from Riyad Mahrez over the bar from close range.
The Algerian was again the provider with a through ball to Gundogan but Meslier was again out quickly to save –this time with his head.
A clever free-kick from De Bruyne fell nicely for Grealish but he scooped his shot high over the bar – much to the delight of the Leeds faithful.
The England ace was red-faced again as he somehow flicked a Lewis cross over the bar when it looked easier to score.
Just as it looked as though Leeds would hold on, the visitors made the breakthrough in first-half injury time as De Bruyne sped clear down the left.
His cross was nudged on by Rodri to Mahrez and although Meslier saved the initial shot, the Spaniard was on hand to roll in the rebound.
The midfielder – who was largely utilised as a centre-back by his country at the World Cup – also opened the scoring here last season.
Having gone behind, Leeds really needed to stay in the game – yet they presented the visitors with a second goal within six minutes of the re-start.
Cooper’s pass was too short for Koch and Grealish nipped in.
He could have gone alone but squared for Haaland to tap in his 25th – and surely simplest – goal of the season so far.
His 19 goals in the Prem would have made him the top scorer in three seasons of the competition – and we are only 15 games in.
And Grealish – finally – had his first assist in any competition this season.
Wouldn’t you know it, the second was not far behind as De Bruyne and Haaland worked the ball out to him on the left.
He pulled back the cross and the deadly Norwegian did the rest with a first-time shot which Meslier could not keep out.
To their credit Leeds kept at it and got a goal back thanks to Pascal Struijk’s header from a Sam Greenwood corner.
And had sub Joe Gelhardt turned in a cross from Greenwood minutes later, we could have had a big finish on our hands.
But nobody was going to ruin Haaland’s big night.
