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Running It Straight: 6pm TuesdaysNo Haaland, no problem for Man City as Semenyo strikes
Steve Douglas • March 1st, 2026 9:35 am
Antoine Semenyo can't stop smiling as he keeps scoring big goals for Manchester City | Photo: AP
Even without their injured totem Erling Haaland, Manchester City have been happy to rely on their newest star Antoine Semenyo to secure the win that keeps the pressure on Arsenal in the Premier League title race.
Semenyo did his best Haaland impression by meeting a low cross with a close-range finish for the winner in first-half stoppage time on Saturday (Sunday NZT) as City held firm to beat Leeds 1-0 and trim the gap to leaders Arsenal to just two points.
It was Semenyo's sixth goal in 11 games since joining from Bournemouth in January.
Antoine Semenyo slots home his sixth goal in 11 games for Man City | Photo: AP
Arsenal, who host Chelsea on Sunday (Monday NZT), and City now have 10 games left in what looks a straight fight for the title.
Haaland was unavailable for the trip to Leeds, his city of birth, after sustaining what City manager Pep Guardiola described as a "little injury" in training on Thursday (Friday NZT). It was the first league match the Norway striker has missed all season.
City then rode their luck at Elland Road, with Leeds squandering two clear-cut chances in the first half and piling on the pressure late before they racked up a sixth win in a row in all competitions.
Mohamed Salah hasn't scored in 10 league matches but Liverpool still won 5-2 | Photo: AP
Elsewhere, Mohamed Salah's run of Premier League games without scoring moved to 10, but fortunately for the Egypt star, his Liverpool teammates had no problem finding the net in a 5-2 thrashing of West Ham that continued the champions' revival.
Hugo Ekitike, Virgil van Dijk, Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo all scored for Liverpool, who also forced an own-goal.
Liverpool have now won four games in a row in all competitions as they moved level on points with fourth-placed Manchester United.
Brentford squandered a three-goal lead before scoring a stoppage-time winner to win 4-3 at relegation-threatened Burnley.
And that was only half the drama.
After pulling it back from 3-0 down to 3-3, Burnley striker Zian Flemming had a goal ruled out for the most marginal of offsides.
And there was a cruel sting in the tail for the hosts as Brentford playmaker Mikkel Damsgaard tucked the ball into the bottom corner in the third minute of added-on time.
Still, Burnley thought they'd earned a point when, with the clock ticking toward 100 minutes, veteran striker Ashley Barnes found the net — only for VAR to intervene again, with the goal ruled out for handball after a wait of more than five minutes.
In another goalfest, Everton won at Newcastle 3-2 — but only after England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford produced a stunning save to keep out Sandro Tonali's long-range volley in stoppage time.
Pickford somehow turned the Italy international's shot onto the crossbar, leading Everton manager David Moyes to call it a "wonder save".
Newcastle recovered from Jarrad Branthwaite's early header to equalise through Jacob Ramsey, but almost instantly conceded again when goalkeeper Nick Pope spilled a shot and Beto pounced to score.
Jacob Murphy volleyed past Pickford to make it 2-2 but Newcastle conceded once again within seconds when Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall surged into the box and crossed for substitute Thierno Barry to bundle the ball across the line.
Also, Bournemouth fought back to draw with Sunderland 1-1 thanks to Brazilian striker Evanilson, stretching their unbeaten run to eight games.
- AP
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