On Friday Pep Guardiola suggested Erling Haaland’s teammates may wish to support the Norwegian in the goalscoring stakes. Cut to 48 hours later and guess who did the business yet again – twice – for Manchester City to take them into a 2-1 half-time lead that proved unassailable?

Step forward the phenomenon who now has 13 Premier League goals and a seismic total of 98 in 107 appearances in England’s top flight. After him, this year, Burnley’s Maxime Estève – via two own goals – is City’s highest league contributor, followed by Phil Foden, Tijjani Reijnders, Matheus Nunes and Rayan Cherki, who have all scored once.

Both Haaland’s goals punished Andoni Iraola’s high-line strategy as he burst behind Bournemouth, with Nico O’Reilly scoring a third after the break. On 82 minutes Pep Guardiola removed the 25-year-old – to the ovation he deserved – and City’s sixth victory of the season has put them on 19 points, six behind Arsenal and in second, at least until Sunderland host Everton on Monday.

Foden, like Cherki, was a leading support act to Haaland and did so by often popping up in dangerous pockets...